Jinchuriki's Way
by Rilixir-CloudBurst
Summary: "I will have my revenge…" The boy whispered as the flow of red chakra increased around his form. "And I won't let you or anyone else get in my way!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ah, my first Naruto FanFic. Contains OC's so if you don't like OC's then don't read.

"Onee-san!" She heard a young excited voice alarm from outside her room. The girl grabbed the pillow and pulled it over her head. Even if she wanted to she couldn't block out the noise. Her ears were trained to pick up every sound around her. Her ninja senses were unparalleled she resented it at times. "Onee-san!" She groaned as her bedroom door slid open. She could hear the light pitter patter of her brother's feet as he ran across her floor. When his foot-steps stopped, she swiftly turned over on her back and raised one arm above her and caught the boy's form at the palm of her hand.

"Aww!" He whined and poked out his bottom lip. "You never let me jump you!" He fussed.

"Good morning to you as well Eriya." She smiled contently and placed him down in front of her on the bed. The girl sat up and wiped away the sleep from her eyes. It was another day in Konoha the sun was shining a sign of peacefulness and the birds chirps their song as they flew past her window, another sign of peace. But today was more than a regular day.

Her eyes focused back to her brother who wore a bright and goofy smile. Compared to all the other children in town, Eriya was different, appearance wise. He had two amethyst stripes under his eyes on each cheek bright amber eyes and slightly sharper teeth then any regular person. And his skin as well as hers, was a light tan complexion but that wasn't unusual at all. She chuckled lightly then ran a hand through his long brown hair. Today was the day he would find out who would be in his squad and who would be his sensei. The day before that he passed his test to become a Genin.

She remembered the first time she became a ninja at his age. She was ecstatic to even be able to wear the head band again after the stunt she pulled some years ago. If it wasn't for Eriya, she wouldn't be alive right now. She was expelled from the academy and forbidden to become a ninja all together. But thanks to the kindness of the Hokage, her bad record was expunged and she was able to start over fresh. From all the training she accomplished she was able to rise above everyone in her squad and was even promoted faster than them. Her squad members envied her for a while but they soon looked up to her and wished to match her skill someday.

"Onee-san…?"

"I'm proud of you…Eriya." She said then slid from her bed and into her closet where she stood staring at her ninja outfit. A black sleeveless turtle neck shirt and pants, and armor to protect the chest and arms. Every time she looked at the outfit or put it on she was disgusted. Just the sight of the uniform made her blood boil it bought back terrible memories of that day when _he…_

"Onee-san!" the little boy called grabbing on to his sister's arm. She honestly didn't notice when the boy latched on to her arm. She also noticed that she was shaking. She stared down at the little boy, perplexity visible through her features that the boy noticed quiet quickly and frowned.

He saw right through her, and it fueled him to know what it was that had her so upset. The very reason he decided to become a ninja was to take care of the issue that angered her, that angered the both of them. He didn't care how long it took, or how hard he had to train, but when he was strong enough, He would destroy the very problem.

"Hey.." She knelt down in front of the young boy, noticing the quick change in his emotion. "Don't frown, today is a big day for you." She smirked then gave the boy a light pluck to his forehead. "Smile otouto!" she tackled the boy and started tickling him, she was always good at whipping a frown from the boy's face. She then jumped back and ran out of the room. "Catch me if you can!"

"Hey!" He ran out into the living room and looked around but she wasn't anywhere in sight. His sister was always an excellent hider she was a high ninja after all. But that was no excuse to not be able to find her. He was a ninja now so he had to think like one. Several ninja he goes against in the future will be able to hide themselves very well. "Okay.." He clapped his hands together and closed his eyes. Taking in a deep breath he concentrated the flow of chakra through his body. "Ninja Art," The boy mumbled he was hesitant on using this jutsu knowing the use of chakra was very high. But he wanted to show her that his skills and way of thinking have improved. "Reve-"

"Stop…" The girl slid the closet door all the way on the far end of the room open and stepped out. "It's not necessary to use a jutsu if the hiding place of a ninja can easily be figured out. When you enter an area Eriya and you know your enemy is near, the best thing to do before using a jutsu is to use your senses." The girl explained carefully. Eriya listened closely and carefully to what his sister had to say. "In this case, you could have easily found me by using the sense of hearing. I purposely made a lot of noise in my hiding spot, easy for you to find me but you automatically jumped to the use of your chakra." The boy held his head down in a little shame. These were the basics of becoming a skilled shinobi and he didn't use them at all. "It's okay to use your chakra Eriya but know when to use it. Wasting it on something that you really didn't need it for could put your own life at risk."

He nodded. She was correct with everything she said. He remembered studying that before he became a Genin. The use of too much chakra could inevitably weaken the user. Over doing it could ultimately result in the user's death. "Right, I'll remember that next time.." He said stuffing his hands within his pockets, discouraged.

"Hey.." She rubbed the top of his head permitting him to smile a little bit. "You're just staring out, it's alright. But, as you raise higher in rank, mistakes are not an option, one slip up and it could be your life Eriya. So you want to do your best and take your training seriously. Understood?"

He smiled and shot a fist up in the air. "Understood onee-san, one day I'll be just like you, but better!"

"I look forward to that day otouto. Now go get ready, we leave soon." In a flash the boy was gone, leaving only a small dust cloud behind. She chuckled quietly and walked off into her room where she prepared herself for the day ahead. She laid back on the floor and placed one arm behind her head while laying the limp one across her chest. She bent her knees and bought both her feet close together and made sure they were flat against the floor. She took in a deep breath before tightening her stomach muscles and raising her upper body from the floor with ease. "One.." She counted before returning her back to the floor again and repeating the process. Her daily exercise is what always got her ready for what was to come that day. The Hokage was always full of surprises. She'd never met such a laid back kage before. She thought that all kage were sagacious and stern. Not this one. He had his serious moments but not often enough. Everyone in town seems to highly respect him. But in her eyes, she respected him the most. Had it not been for him she wouldn't be in this town or a ninja. And Eriya, he…he would probably still be suffering...not that he isn't still suffering now but, at least some have come to accept him if not all. For that, she'll always be forever grateful to the Hokage. "49…50." She finished then stood to her feet.

"I'm ready onee-san!" She looked at the boy. He wore a black sleeveless shirt with grey baggy pants. Black fingerless gloves that stopped at his elbows. His long brown wavy hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and his forehead protector was tied around his head. "You look great."

He threw both hands in the air and performed a back flip. "Thanks! Now hurry I'm going to be late!"

**:::**

All the young Genin sat in class talking amongst themselves about how excited they were to finally gain the title as a ninja. While most were excited, others bickered and argued over who was the best or who would make it to the next rank before who. But little did they know, it would be a long and hard trip that came with blood, sweat, and tears before they made it to their desired rank.

The door slid open and the class suddenly grew quiet. The person looked around twice before entering the large class. All eyes were on him as he approached the set of stairs that would take him to his seat. Whispers erupted and some even pointed as he made his way pass his peers and to a seat furthest away from the other students in the classroom.

"How'd he get accepted…" one of the students murmured to another.

"I don't know, what was Konohamaru-sensei thinking when he allowed him to pass.."

"Just think of the danger that could come to the village knowing that he's a ninja now." Another student said bitterly.

"Yeah, it's already bad enough that the Hokage even allowed him in this village he needs to go back to where he came from so no one has to tip-toe around him anymore!"

The boy turned to the wall and clenched both his fist against his arms. It was a shame how fast others judged him without even knowing him. He was a good kid he'd never harm anyone unless they tried to harm him. He had a good and caring heart but they were all too blinded to really see that..

'_Cruelty is always going to come your way Eriya, but you have to learn to look pass the hatred of others and remember in your heart the people who love you..'_

He smiled at those words. Remembering them is what got him through the day and kept him sane.

"Hey!"

Eriya looked over his shoulder. A boy with blonde spikey hair was standing behind him. He wore black and orange pant and a white high collared shirt. His head protector was tied around his right arm. "Yes..?" He said, though it sounded more like a question. This boy, he wasn't scared of him like everyone else? He couldn't be, he was smiling too goofily to be afraid, unless he was feigning it.

"Why are you sitting all the way over here, when everyone is all the way over there." He extended his arm across the class room to show where the other students were located, who was still glaring at the young boy. Eriya sighed and laid his head against his arm. It's a shame how he was so excited to get here before leaving home but now he was wishing he stayed home. His eyes shifted to the right on the blonde haired boy. This boy must have been braver than the other students. "Tch, why do you wanna talk to me? I'm invisible to everyone so I don't need your pity if that's what you're trying to do…I'm fine being by myself." He felt his stomach clench at his own words.. The feeling of having friends around him would make him happier. It would give him an even better reason to want to get up in the morning and come to this place. Loneliness was an awful feeling and none of his peers knew how it felt. He had his onee-san but she was always busy on missions and couldn't always be there for him.

"Fine being alone…?" The blonde haired boy's face twisted up. Why would he say such a thing. That was crazy. And what did he mean he was invisible to everyone. If that were true how was he able to see him. "Invisible, you're not invisible silly I can see you perfectly fine!"

Eriya slapped his forehead and grunted. Was this guy playing dumb? "What is wrong with you!?" The boy yelled pulling more attention to himself and the blonde. "Look if this is some game you're playing to embarrass me in front of your friends I'm on to you..just leave me alone!"

The boy stood up from his seat and ran out of the class room, passing by Konohamaru and the other sensei's that were entering the class room. "Eriya! Eriya!" He called but the boy continued running.

"I'll go after him Konohamaru.."

Konohamaru nodded and entered the class room. All the students stared at him with innocent eyes like they weren't involved with whatever just occurred. He sighed and decided against wasting his breath on lecturing them since he knew it wasn't going to change their view on how they saw that little boy. Funny how they accept the Hokage for who he is but not that poor little boy. Then again, the Hokage went through a lot as well before they accepted him for who he was, so the attitude they are throwing at Eriya is no surprise.

"Konohamaru-sensei?"

The man looked down and saw the blonde hair boy standing in front of him. The boy appeared to be worried about something. "Sensei, is that boy going to be okay? I didn't mean to hurt his feelings I was just trying to be friendly. Why does he wanna be alone? He said that he was invisible to everyone but I can see him just fine. Can you see him Sensei?"

'_Just like your father…..'_

Konohamaru thought before answering the boy's chain of questions with one answer. "He'll be fine, don't worry now take a seat so I can start with telling you and the rest of the class who you'll be paired up with." The boy ran to his desk and sat down, in the same spot he sat when Eriya was present. He looked over to the vacant spot again and couldn't help but to wonder what the boy meant by him being invisible.

**:::**

Eriya sat in the middle of the forest with his head against his knees, crying quietly to himself. He hated that he was the outcast of everyone in the village. He really just wanted to disappear now. No one would miss him, let alone wonder what the hell happened to him because they didn't care.

The rustling bushes around him caught his attention. The boy raised his head and quickly stood to his feet. The rustling continued. Eriya gulped and reached in the pouch strapped to his leg and pulled out four shiruken. "Wh-who's there..?" He said, whipping the tears from his eyes to get a better see of the things around him.

"Gyah! Help! Help me please!" A little girl cried out as she stepped out from the bushes and ran over to Eriya, burying her face against his stomach. "That man is trying to hurt me!" She cried out frightfully, trembling and shaking from fear.

"Man? What man?" It had now grown quiet. The wind had stopped blowing and everything was still. Almost like time itself had completely stopped. "Get behind me.." He said pushing the girl towards the back of him. Eriya closed his eyes and carefully listened to his surroundings. A heartbeat, thumped in his ears and the sound of someone's heavy breathing echoed through his ears. The boy raised the hand he held the shiruken in and quickly flicked them sixty degrees to the right of him. Before the bladed weapons had a chance to connect with whoever was hiding within in the bushes, the culprit jumped from his hiding spot and landed directly in front of the two.

"Very clever, as expected from a ninja from the hidden leaf village." The man dropped his head back and laughed darkly.

"Grr! Who are you and what do you want with this little girl!" Eriya spat angrily, pointing a finger out at the unknown person. He noticed the forehead protector dangling around the man's neck but the symbol on it was of no familiarity to him. "You'd better start talking now or you're gonna be in big trouble!"

The man laughed again at how brave the boy was being. "Look kid, I suggest you tell that girl to hand over that scroll she stole from me. Give it to me and I'll go peacefully. Don't, and there will be consequences, your choice kid!"

He looked over his shoulder at the girl and she was indeed holding onto a scroll. Why didn't he see that earlier? But she didn't look like she was about to give it up either. "No! no! no! this scroll has been in my family for centuries and he stole it! I can't tell you what's inside but he knows and that's why he stole it! Please don't take it away from me!"

The boy shot a dark glare at the male and got into a stance that showed he was ready to fight. "A theif huh?" He closed his eyes and mumbled something to himself. "We'll let me show you what we do to thieves!" The boy threw four kunai knives at the man then charged at him at full speed. The man simply laughed then casted a hand out in front of him, just as the knife was inches away from hitting him they stopped, and sent back at a faster velocity than before.

The boy's eyes grew extremely wide t this turn of event and had no time to give a proper reaction and winded up taking the hit. The small knives pierced above his collarbone, the side of his stomach, his left arm and the other just grazed the side of his cheek. Eriya tumbled back on the ground and grunted a little bit at the pain but to him it wasn't much.

"Weak ninja such as you have no business trying to go up against strong ninja like me. Give up kid if you value your life." The man said proudly.

Eriya took in a few breaths and grabbed the back of one of the knives to pull it out. His body was able to withstand more damage than that. Looks like all the hard training his onee-san put him through was actually paying off. He stood up from the ground, pulling the knives from the places they had hit and dropped them onto the grassy surface. "You're gonna have to come off a little stronger then that if you want to get rid of me." He said with a burning confidence. He clapped his hands together and closed his eyes as he began the process of controlling his chakra.

You're a poor protector kid. The man spat and set his eyes on the girl. "Ice Style: Icicle Senbon Jutsu!" The man wave his hand out and a barrage of needle like icicles flew towards the girl. The man laughed as the boy seemed to not be paying attention to what was currently happening. What a poor excuse for a ninja he was.

When the needles were in range of the girl, they suddenly disappeared into the air. "What!?" the man shouted in surprise as his attack didn't connect.

"Never underestimate me just because I'm a kid mister, what you failed to notice is that before I charges at you, I put up a protection shield since I knew I would be leaving the girl's side. Another thing you don't realize is that, you're about to die.." His hands began performing the seals of the rat and the dragon. "Ninja Art: Shadow Bind Jutsu!" he shouted. The boy's shadow snaked through the ground and wrapped itself around the unknown male's body and restrained him to the ground.

"Damn you kid!"

"And another thing you don't realize is that, this barrier is also a weapon." He said proudly before smirking.

"Release!" The barrier shattered from around the young girl's figure and the icicle senbon the man sent for the girl earlier was launched back at him.

A loud cry of pain erupted from the woods and was heard throughout the entirety of the leaf village. Eriya let out a breath of relief and stared down at the now dead man in front of him with disgust. He was never big on killing anyone but the man crossed the line and what's done is done.

"Thank you!" the little girl cried out and hugged the young boy. Eriya was surprised. He thought the girl would have ran away by now. Terrified of him, but she didn't. Eriya smiled and hugged the girl back. "You're welcome, you're safe now okay, how about we get you home.."

The girl smiled and nodded. She took the boy's hand to start running the path home but stopped when four of the village Jonin showed up.

"Eriya!"

"Huh, oh, Konohmaru-sensei!"

"Are you alright!?" He said in a panic and checked to see if the boy was hurt.

"I'm fine sensei." The boy reassured. "Just a few scratches but I'm fine."

"The other three Jonin, Kakashi, Kurenai and Guy, examined the corpes of the body lying on the ground. "Kenichi Andou." Kurenai spoke out. "The Hokage was talking about this man a few days ago, said he was an expert thief from the village hidden in the snow." She explained.

"Yea, well he's a dead thief now," Kakashi said bluntly. "And taken down by a rookie Genin, he's no ordinary kid that's for sure." Kakashi stood to his feet and began walking back towards the village. "Dispose of the body, I'll report to the Hokage."

"You've done well Eriya," Konohamaru praised.

He nodded, with an empty smile on his face. "Yea but it doesn't change anyone's views of me, does it?"

The man smiled, and rubbed the top of the boy's head. "With time, it will." He smiled. "Now, let's get this little girl home and get you back to the school, you're team members are waiting to meet you!"

**:::**

After dropping off the girl back to her home, Eriya returned to the school with his sensei. He didn't know that that girl was missing for a month and a half now. Nor was he aware that the mission to catch that thief was a "B" ranked mission. He was very proud of himself and couldn't wait to tell his Onee-san all about it when he got home.

"Alright Eriya." Konohomaru started. "These are your new team mates."

He looked over both of them and quickly recognized one of them. It was that blonde haired kid that was trying to talk to him earlier. Then the other one seemed spaced out. She had long dark hair and black eyes. She wore more of a stoic expression though at the same time it looked a little gloomy.

"Nice to meet you, again!" The blonde boy shouted out. Eriya already could tell he was going to be the big mouthed-annoying one of the group. "I never got the chance to give you my name earlier but its Hanzi, Hanzi Uzumaki, we'll get along great believe it!"

He just nodded then looked at the lone girl standing against the wall. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Setsuko Uchiha." She said simply.

"Pleased to meet you both." He said dryly. "I'm Eriya Jiro." He looked down at the floor then turned his back. "Hopefully, we get along." He said sadly before exiting the class room, leaving his new team mates clueless.

A/N: That's chapter one. Let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

"So son," A blonde spikey haired male called out to the boy across the table from him. They were both waiting for the table to finish being set before they could eat. The older blonde's stomach growled loudly and he frowned. "How was your day today, do you like your team members?" He noticed that the boy was rather quiet when he arrived home earlier that day and that wasn't like him. Usually he would be over excited to share his day with his parents.

Hanzi stared down at the table, fiddling with his thumbs in deep thought. Ever since he'd left the academy earlier that day, his mind was still focused on that boy he tried to talk to in class that day. Though the boy had angrily lashed out at him, he saw right through him. He was upset and hurting. From what? Hanzi didn't know but he wanted to find out.

_'Why do you wanna talk to me? I'm invisible to everyone. So I don't need your pity if that's what you're trying to do…I'm fine being by myself!'_

The boy's words rang loudly in his ears, and a frown appeared upon his face. How could he want to be alone? No one deserved to be alone. He remembered the stories his father told him about Ninja like him. And he said that with people like that, just want to be accepted, and noticed. But he tried that today on the boy and it just made him mad. "Yea, Otou-san, I like my teammates.." He said with a half-smile.

"Alright you two." A woman with long dark hair and white eyes said as she placed a bowl of mixed vegetables on the table, alongside a plate of steamed fish and a bowl of rice. "We can now eat." The blonde haired male stood up and walked behind the woman where he pulled her chair out. As the woman sat down the blonde haired male placed a hand over her pudgy stomach and gently rubbed it. "Any day now.." He said and kissed her forehead. The black haired woman's cheeks turned a dark shade of crimson as the male returned to his seat. Even the after the many years they'd been together he still was able to make her blush.

"Let's eat!" The older male yelled out and immediately reached for the ramen at the center of the table just as his son was doing the same. The two exchanged dark glares at one another and argued over who's chopsticks were in the bowl first. "Otou-san…" Hanzi growled at his father who was blowing steam from the top of his head by now. "Hanzi…"

"Now, now you two, there is plenty of ramen in the kitchen, no need to argue over one bowl.." The soft spoken woman said but her soft voice didn't seem to reach their ears for they were still glaring at each other like it was the last bowl of raman on earth.

Hanzi reached out and grabbed the whole bowl for himself and his father did the same. "It's mine!" Hanzi yelled and pulled the bowl in his direction. "No it's not your mother specially made this bowl for me!" the older blonde argued and pulled the bowl back in his direction. "Nuh-uh! I didn't hear her say that give me the ramen!" He gave one final pull and snatched the bowl from his father's hand. "Haha victory!" The boy said, as his eyes twinkled with success. "He dipped his chop sticks in the noodles and quickly started devouring them like he had not eaten in days. "Mmmm mmm mmmm mm!" he hummed a gleeful smile on his face.

"Hey Hanzi.."

"Yea, otou-san!" The sound of cracking knuckles caught his attention but before he could move it was too late, his father connected his fist with the top of his head, leaving behind a big knot. The boy fell over on the floor with his hands rubbing the top of his head. "Ouch! Ow!" He sniffed and looked over at his father who was now eating his bowl of ramen. His lip quivered and he looked over at his mother. "Okka-san.." He sniffled as a stream of tears rolled down his cheeks. "Okka-san!" He whined "Otou-san hit me and stole my ramen!"

"Naruto!" The woman yelled though it came out softly. But it was enough to catch the older blonde's attention. The two went through this every night. She never under stood what the big deal was. There was always plenty of food on the table but they always brawled over the bowl of Ramen. "Let him have it."

"But Hinata, he.."

_THWAP!_

"Alright here, you can have it!" He said and slid the bowl across the table as he rubbed the top of his head after being hit by the one woman he thought wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Ahhh!" The boy happily began eating his ramen again then stuck his tongue out teasingly at his father. "I win!"

After all the hype about the Raman had calmed down, Hanzi went back to the subject about his teammates, one in particular. "Otou-san, why would someone say that they are invisible to everyone when clearly they are not invisible..?"

Naruto was quiet for a moment before he could answer his son's question. He picked up a piece of fish between his chop sticks and bought it to his lips. "Well son, it could be a number of things. It all depends on the type of life the person has lead." He stated, remembering the way things were when he was younger. Having the nine tailed fox demon within him was not easy, people looked down on him and discriminated him. But that hate only made him stronger and made him want to prove himself. And it did. He's Hokage after all. "Why do you ask?"

"There is this kid on my team, Eriya Jiro. And well I thought that I'd go talk to him since he was all by himself, but he yelled at me and said he was invisible and would rather be alone. I thought it might have been because of how I approached him but when I looked at him I could see nothing but sadness.."

Again, Naruto was silent. There was much about that boy his son didn't know about he would tell him but he'd rather him find out for himself. He knew in time that he would. Eriya was no ordinary kid he was special. He'd arrived in Konoha several years ago along with his sister after a terrible slaughter in their village. Since, the boy has had much difficulty making friends because of what he was. "Just do your best to try and be his friend Hanzi. He may not show it but it's what he really wants. That's why I placed you within his group, because of your kind nature. If anyone, I know that you can bring out the best in him."

Hanzi smiled and nodded his head. His father's words were enough to boost his confidence. It wasn't going to be easy but he'd do his best. "Okay Otou-san, I won't let you down!"

**:::**

Eriya staggered into his home and closed the door behind him. He carefully laid his back against the wall and closed his eyes. After he'd met his teammates he went into the woods and trained himself until his muscles were sore to the touch and it hurt to breath. "G-guess I over did it.." He said as he pushed off the wall and staggered towards the kitchen. "Onee-san. Onee-san I'm home." He called out but received no answer. The boy made his way into the kitchen but there was no one there. Now that he actually took the time to notice, no one was there. The lights in every room of the home was off, only the glow from the moon peeked through the windows. He sighed and looked over to the table where a piece of paper laid. He blinked and picked it and quickly read over the contents. He pressed his lips into a straight line and let the note fall onto the ground. By now he thought he would be used to this type of thing, his sister disappearing for an "x" amount of days and not knowing when she would return home. But he wasn't, all it did was make him worry about her. He never knew if she would come home alive or dead. She always told me she'd be fine, he knew that but if he ever lost her he don't know what I'd do. She was all he had in his small world of people he could trust.

Eriya staggered out of the kitchen and into his room where he took a quick shower and hopped into bed. He let out a loud yawn and rubbed my eyes as he fluffed his pillow until it was to my comfort. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day so he needed to get a good night's rest if he wanted to be able to function correctly. Tomorrow was when they met their sensei since he didn't show up earlier that day. Konohamaru told him that on the way back from the forest. A sensei that didn't appear on time, that was a terrible first impression. The boy yawned again and turned over in his bed, soon closing his eyes and slipping into a deep sleep.

The three squad members sat on a field three or so miles outside the village of Konoha waiting for their sensei to arrive. The Uchiha girl stood under a tree with her eyes closed and arms crossed with a rather impatient look on her face and Hanzi sat next to her, staring at the girl with a ring of hearts circling his head. It was obvious that he was one of the many fan boys of Konoha with some sickening crush on the girl but she didn't seem to acknowledge it in the least.

Eriya sat in a tree across from the one Hanzi and Setsuko were under and just studied the both of them. Setsuko mostly. Unlike Hanzi who appeared to be a total ding-bat, this girl was different. Quiet and to herself. He'd heard many things about the Uchiha clan and how strong they are from over-hearing the guys of the _"Setsuko Fan Club"_ as well as other students speak about it. Was she really all that great? Maybe he should test the one to test the waters and find out.

Hanzi pulled himself from his admiration of the Uchiha girl and glanced over at his other teammate up in the tree. "Hey!" The boy shouted, waving both hands in the air. "Eriya, what'cha doing up there by yourself!" The boy ran over to the tree and jumped through every branch until he made it to the one the boy was settled on. By the time he made it there, Eriya was gone. "Man he's fast.." The blonde boy looked to his right to the boy was standing in front of Setsuko. He smiled and quickly hopped through the branches until he made it back to the ground safetly. "Well now that we are all here,"

"I challenge you to a fight.." Eriya said morosely, interrupting anything Hanzi was about to say.

Setsuko smirked and looked up at the boy. She knew this was coming, she'd felt someone watching her since they had arrived her and had a hunch it was him. "You sure about that..?" She said smugly "You're just asking for yourself to get seriously hurt.."

"Hmph.." She was a cocky one, he knew already that this was going to be a rather interesting fight. "Someone has a lot of confidence in themselves. I don't think you're that strong at all."

The girl glared and the winds around them began to pick up. How dare he stand here and bad mouth her. No one does that. "Prepare yourself!"

Eriya celebrated silently as he walked to his spot on the field. He turned around and faced the girl, smirking more to mock her than anything else.

"Hey, hey guys now you guys!" Hanzi said, flailing his arms about in the air. Don't fight, why not just talk it-"

"SHUT UP!"

The two said in unison making the boy freeze up in fear. "Okay, I'll just..stay over here..of "

Setsuko and Eriya traded gazes once more then dashed off in the direction of each other. The two thrusted their fists out to land a punch on one another when a giant white cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke vanished standing between the two was a figure dressed in all black and a green vest. A Jonin. The figure also had a black cloth that covered the bottom half of their face and bandages wrapped around the top part. All that could be seen were the person's eyes which were a misty grey color and their long black hair that stopped at the base of their back. Their left arm was also held up in a sling that was tied around ther neck. Both Setsuko and Eriya blinked at the figure between them then looked at each other. The figure squeezed both of their fists in the palm of their hand and twisted it, making the two Genin winch and groan from the pain. "I don't care what the two of you do on your own time but this is my time. And on my time you're going to follow my rules and those rules include no fighting unless necessary!" The person twisted both their hands then kicked them both backwards across the field.

Hanzi stood up and happily ran to the figure's side. "Sensei!?"

Eriya and Setsuko picked themselves up from the ground and began walking back towards the figure and Hanzi. Both were holding their wrist from the awful pain that was running through it. "This isn't over.." Setsuko warned and gave the boy a dark glare. "Oh, I'm well aware, be prepared cause next time there will be no interruptions.." Eriya said then ran ahead of the girl.

Eriya and Setsuko finally made it back to the figure and Hanzi. The two just continued to exchange evil glares with one another.

"Guys! This is our sensei!" the blonde boy shouted to pull their attention from each other and focus on the figure in front of them.

The unknown person cleared their throat and started to speak. "I hope I got your attention.." She glared but the three could hardly tell because the bandages. The person had the voice of an adolescent girl. "as your friend here has said, I am your sensei. I go by the name Indo."

Eriya gasped while the others just continued to listen on to what their instructor had to say. Indo sat down and crossed her legs over one another and the other two followed in suit. Eriya just stood there glaring at the woman with the bandages over her face. Really he didn't know why she was wearing them. Was there something wrong with her face? The boy sat down, never taking his eyes off the woman.

"So, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourselves, starting with you." She pointed a finger out at Eriya. The boy huffed and turned his head to the side like a spoiled child that couldn't have his way. "Why don't you tell me!" he grumbled.

"Oh oh me I'll go first!" Hanzi yelled out while throwing his hands up in the air.

"Alright, since this one doesn't want to co-operate you may go." Indo said fueling the boy's anger.

"Well! My name is Hanzi Uzumaki. I'm thirteen years old and I love Raman. My father is the Hokage of the village. I'm going to following his footsteps and become the next Hokage, believe it!"

"Mmm-hmm, and how about you?" She said referring to the Uchiha girl.

Setsuko opened her eyes and folded her hands under her chin. She looked the bandaged woman in the eyes and sighed. "I am Setsuko Uchiha. I desire to become the next strongest shinobi in my family. And be able to take down weak so called ninja that stand in my way." She cut her eyes at the boy sitting next to her. Eriya growled and scowled at the girl "Who you calling weak!" He shouted.

Setsuko just smirked and looked back towards the sensei. She enjoyed the fact that she could get under the boy's skin so well.

"Alright," Indo said and stood to her feet. "You sure you don't want to tell us about yourself, I'm sure your teammates would be interested."

The boy grumbled at how the girl was acting so... "Fine, I'm Eriya. 13 years old. All I care for is ending the life of the person that has caused me so much pain…" He said whispering the last part of his sentence.

"Alright..." Indo replied. "Well as you already know, I am Indo.

My hobbies include reading and gathering information." She said

"That's it!?" Hanzi blurted out. "What are your dreams your future goals, things of that nature."

"My dreams and goals are nothing I wish to brag about." She said quietly then quickly changed the subject. "As you all may know, today is the day you receive your first task."

All their eyes lit up with excitement about their first task as ninja. Indo reached into her pocket and pulled out a blue scroll, which she handed over to the blonde haired boy. "Alright this is going to be awesome!"

**:::**

"Ninja Art: Shadow Multipy." Eriya said to himself. About ten replications of his shadow pulled themselves out from the ground, appearing to be that of solid figures and began helping with the trash pick-up.

Man this really sucks.." Hanzi grumbled as he and the other two did community work around the village. The boy stuck his stick in the can on the ground and threw it in the basket on his back. Why did they have to do this boring crap while all the other ninja get to run around and do all the cool stuff. He stopped his work shortly and looked up at his sensei who was comfortably lying across a roof top reading a book. Their sensei was a strange one. He wondered if any of the other Genin had a mysterious sensei like they did. Why did she were that cloth and mask over her face. Did she have something to hide?

"You're not going to get done any faster by looking at me all day. "The woman said as she flipped through the pages of her book. She turned her head in the direction of the boy and he quickly went back to work.

Hanzi reached down with his stick and picked up another piece of trash and tossed it in the basket. Eriya stepped at his side and picked up a small piece of paper. Hanzi looked over at him and remembered what his father asked him the night before. "Hey Eriya?"

The boy picked up another piece of trash and tossed it in his basket. "What Blondie, can't you see I'm trying to get to get this job done, go bug someone else will ya?"

"I wanted to ask you, about what you said earlier, what did that person do to you?"

"Whatever it is I don't feel like discussing it with you because it's none of your concern. So why don't you try minding your own business and stop sticking your nose in mine!"

'_Ouch..this is going to be harder than I thought.'_

He shook his head and held his fist up in the air.

'_But I won't give up, I promised otou-san that I would become close with Eriya and that's what I'll do!'_

"Uhm, you're starting to become more of a head case every time I see you, you're freaking me out.." Eriya said and picked up another piece of trash.

'_Guess I'll try again later..'_

The whole day had gone by and the sun was now starting to set behind the trees. Still the three Genin was nowhere near finished with their assignment for that day. Their sensei had gone through a total of eight books within the time they first began all the way until now. She looked down at the three of them and shook her head. She remembered when she was in their position and her and her team mates had to go through the same thing. But unlike these three, they used teamwork without someone having to tell them they had too.

"Man, this is a drag.." Hanzi complained

"Wow, you actually said something that we both agree on." Setsuko said. "This is a waste of time why are we even doing this, I thought ninja were trained to fight not to do chores and hard labor!"

"Yea!" Hanzi exclaimed throwing down his stick.

"It's to build trust.." Indo said as she closed her book and sat up. She looked down at the three Genin who were just standing around and fussing about the things they'd rather be doing. "The first thing you need to have when you're a ninja is someone's trust. Be it doing chores or something much more drastic. If you three were sent on a mission right now and it involved infiltration you'd all die." She said snarling the last part of the sentence. She hopped off the room and walked towards the tree of them. "You know why, because the first thing you'd need to do on an infiltration mission is to gain one's trust.."

The Uchiha girl clenched her hand into a fist as the woman continued to disrespect her. First she tried to break her wrist now she's talking down on her like she was something low. "You know nothing about me.." Setsuko grumbled out of pure frustration.

Indo smirked out of pure amusement though it was unseen by any of the three Genin since her face was covered up. "You're wrong there, I do know one thing about you, all three of you actually. You're selfish." She stated simply.

Setsuko swiftly threw a fist towards her sensei out of anger but the woman caught it. "Another thing, you have a bad temper!" Indo twisted the girl's wrist and kicked her back.

"Being a ninja requires more than just the ability to fight. And the three of you lack them all."

"Who are you to say that to us!" Hanzi and Setsuko shouted together.

"Your sensei, and you know how I'm feeling right now, I feel that all three of you fail, and none of you deserve the title of ninja!" She said before turning her back to the three. "Do what you wish, finish up here or go home, but remember, your actions will determine your position in the morning." Indo took off into the village and vanished from sight, leaving the three to think with what they needed to do.

Setsuko unstrapped the basket from her back and let it drop against the ground. "I think we should ask for a new sensei."

Hanzi agreed with a nod of his head. "I agree, we deserve better missions then this petty stuff. I can complain to my father, he is the Hokage after all."

"The two of you complain too much…" Eriya said to the two. "Crying liked spoiled children, can't you see when we are being tested." He picked up another piece of trash and put it in his basket. "We have to work together. Besides, she was just saying all those things to get under our skin. I know for sure."

Setsuko looked at the both of them then dropped her stick on the ground. "Well I refuse to take part in this any longer. I'm out of here!"

Hanzi looked at Eriya who just rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing. Of all people he wished that it was Setsuko that stayed behind, she would have been less of a nuisance than this guy here. Then again, what did it matter, they were going to fail anyway.

**:::**

"Lord Hokage." Indo stepped into the Kage's office and stood in front of his desk. The blonde man turned in his seat to face the woman, already knowing exactly why she was there. "Yes, Indo what is it?"

Indo took another step forward and rested her hands along the cool wooden surface of the desktop. It was obvious that she was annoyed by something. "The group you've place me with, they're not fit to be ninja." She said catching the man's full attention now.

"And what makes you say that?" He blinked and leaned forward on the desk, folding his hands under his chin.

"I'm sure you've seen it for yourself already, so I'll spare you the details."

Naruto smiled and turned towards the window and stared outside. He remembered when he was younger and he much desired the same thing those three did and the Hokage gave them their wish. It was a tough mission but working together, they completed the mission made new friends and returned to Konoha in one piece. "You're right Indo, I've seen everything and I say we give them what they are asking for. I assign your group to an "A" ranked mission."

"What!? That's insane. They're just Genin, sending them on missions above their rank is asinine. They'll be killed!" She argued and slammed her hand against the desk. It was absurd.

"Perhaps you're underestimating them. We'll put them to the test. Besides, I'm sending one of Konoha's best Jonin slash Anbu with them. If push comes to shove I'm sure you'll protect them especially the one you know best."

"Hokage please I-"

"That is my final word." Naruto cut in. "Inform them as soon as possible to report to my office in the morning."

Indo left the office with a sense of worry clawing at the pit of her stomach. An "A" ranked mission? What was the Hokage thinking!? Sure she wasn't too keen about the three but the last thing she wanted was to see them get slaughtered in a mission they had no chance at. But it was sealed and Naruto wasn't changing his mind. She knew already that this was going to be a very dangerous mission.


	3. Chapter 3

_'Italic'=Memory_

_(Italic)=Thought_

"Thank you very much Indo," A pink haired woman said with a kind smile on her lips. "Right now Setsuko is out with her father but when she returns I will give her the message."

Indo nodded. "Thank you Sakura, have a good rest of the evening." The girl hopped up on the roof tops and ran off into the night. "So, they actually did leave hmm. Instead of finishing their mission they abandoned it. Stubborn set of children." She sighed out of irritation and thought back to earlier. She slapped her face and shook her head. This had to be one of the most foolish decisions that the Hokage has ever made. It's a death mission before it already started. And he didn't even hesitate when he announced it.

'_I assign your team to an "A" ranked mission!'_

All he did was grin and smile. If she didn't know him well she would have thought he was joking around. Maybe there was something he seen in those three that she was missing. Whatever it was she wished he would have let her in on in. Cause all she sees are a few bratty children running around calling themselves ninja.

The girl leapt of the roof and made a smooth landing upon the ground, right in front of her house. She stared up at the windows and realized that all the lights were still out, a sign that no one was home. So he was still out there. If any of them, she knew he'd stay behind and get the mission done. Even if it took all night. She turned and leapt into the air where she landed upon the rooftops once more, she needed to find him and fill him in on the arrangements the Hokage has made.

It was becoming later into the evening and the air was beginning to grow cold. Hanzi and Eriya still continued to carry out their mission even though one of their teammates had bailed on them. The two were both exhausted and hungry. One by one Eriya's shadow replicas all disappeared and he collapsed against the ground because of how much chakra he had used up through the entire day.

Hanzi picked up the last piece of trash and fell back against the ground next to Eriya. It wasn't a comfortable surface but he wasn't complaining it was better than standing that's for sure. "Ugh, what a long day I'm soo tired and," His stomach growled loudly, almost matched the sound of a roaring bear. "I'm hungry too!"

"Heh, you said it.." Eriya agreed and stared up at the sky. It was a very clear night, and the moon illuminated the dark town with its effulgent glow. And the stars complimented it. Eriya smiled sadly. He remembered when his sister and that…other guy used to lay in the grass during the evening and just watch the stars all night. It was one of their favorite pass times when they weren't busy training themselves. But now, all that has changed. Once in a while he wished that there was a way he could rewind time. Or maybe if he could have been a little stronger then maybe, there could have been a chance of him stopping that…guy. He his sister and the rest of his family could still be together today. But no, it ended up like this, and he regrets it. "Hey you.."

"Me?" Hanzi asked dumbly as he sat up, blinking twice at the brunet boy.

"What do you think, you and I are the only two here so I can't possibly be talking to anyone else. He said smugly but Hanzi only smiled. "Why did you stay? You and Setsuko were the ones complaining the most about how much this really sucked. Why didn't you take off when she did?"

Hanzi smiled and rolled over on his stomach. "Well because we are a team. And a teammate never leaves another behind." He rolled over on his back and tucked his arms behind his head. "Yea I complained and I wish we can go on better and cooler missions than this but, no way am I just going to quit and leave you."

(_So the ding-bat actually thinks after all.)_

"Hey Eriya." Hanzi called grabbing the boy's attention by the seriousness in his voice. So far Hanzi has showed that he could be everything bust serious. "What is it?"

Hanzi was a little nervous at first after the last reaction he received when he questioned the boy earlier. "Well..Uhm..Uh…"

"Would you spit it out already?" He said growing irritated from the blonde's stammering.

"How come, how come you said what you said yesterday. You know about being alone and invisible to others."

He scoffed. "I don't feel like talking about-"

"It's because you're a Jinchurki, isn't it?" Hanzi cut in, earning a shocked and surprised expression from the brunet.

So he wasn't dumb after all. Eriya was starting to thing he was underestimating this guy. "If you knew then why were you acting as if you didn't know in class?"

"Because at that time, I didn't know." He explained. "It wasn't until last night that I found out. I over-heard my parents talking about you and my dad mentioned it."

"So now you know. Go on run away scared. I don't care." He said lowering his head. His voice sounded harsh but Hanzi knew that he was only doing it to shut others out since that's what he was used to.

"I know that's not what you want. So no I'm not going to run away scared because I'm not scared. You're just as normal as the rest of us in this town and if no one can see that, then they are just stupid." He brushed his nose with his index finger and smiled.

"You're my teammate Eriya" Hanzi said "And most of all, my friend."

Eriya gasped. Did he just say...the brunet boy sat up and stared blankly at the boy, puzzled and confused.

No one had ever…

No one even attempted…

"_It's mine give it back to me!" Eriya shouted as he jumped up and down to get his ball from the boy that was dangling it over his head._

_The boy laughed and continued to raise the ball higher and higher every time Eriya got close to it. "You have to jump and get it if you want it." The boy teased._

_Flash_

"_Hey hey Tsuna! You wanna play bad guys and ninjas with me!" Eriya said happily, holding out two headbands to his friend._

"_I-I uhm, " The boy smiled weakly and slowly began to back away from the boy like he was diseased or something. "I'm sorry Eriya, my mom and dad said I can't play with you anymore.." _

_Flash_

"_Onee-san, why do you hate me, did I do something bad to make you despise me so much?" The boy asked tears pouring endlessly from his eyes."_

_The girl glared down at the boy and pushed pass him. "I'm not your sister, you're a monster, I have no relation to monsters.."_

_Flash_

"_How'd he get accepted…" one of the students murmured to another._

"_I don't know, what was Konohamaru-sensei thinking when he allowed him to pass.."_

"_Just think of the danger that could come to the village knowing that he's a ninja now." Another student said bitterly._

"_Yeah, it's already bad enough that the Hokage even allowed him in this village he needs to go back to where he came from so no one has to tip-toe around him anymore!"_

Eriya clenched his hand into a fist as tears began to fall from his eyes against his will. All these years of pain and neglect he received from everyone he came in touch with. All the snares and hate filled looks, the whispers. And out of it all, comes this guy. "Your friend..?" He said, it was a little weird using that word since he never had any.

Hanzi nodded. "Yea, of course we may have got off on the wrong foot but I wasn't about to give up on you." He patted the boys back and smiled.

Eriya looked the boy in the eyes and saw nothing but truth there. No deception nothing. Only truth. "Thank you…" He whispered.

The blonde nodded firmly. "So now since we're great friends and all. I wanna show you something!" The boy stood to his feet and held the index and middle finger on his left hand vertically and the index and middle finger of his right hand against them horizontally. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several copies of Hanzi appeared around them for a few seconds then they disappeared. "Heh, pretty cool huh!"

Eriya's eyebrow twitched several times before tightening his hand into a fist. "So you're telling me all this time you had that technique..?"

"Yea, my dad taught it to me!?" He said proudly.

Eriya raised his fist and connected it with the top of the boys head. "YOU DING-BAT, YOU SHOUL HAVE USED THE JUTSU EARLIER AND WE COULD HAVE BEEN THROUGH WITH OUR MISSON ALREADY!"

"Ouch is that any way to treat a friend!?" Hanzi shouted while rubbing his head.

"Yea a dumb ones!" Eriya retorted.

"Well I wasn't thinking that at the time…" Hanzi whined.

"Well maybe you need to start thinking more!"

Eriya looked up at the sky once more then stood to his feet. "You know we should start heading home. I'm tired and we need to rest up for whatever is in store tomorrow."

"Yea and I'm very hungry, we should find a ramen shop and get something to eat first." Hanzi said rubbing his rumbling stomach. "If I don't eat something soon I'm going to faint."

"Hanzi, I doubt there is any shops open at this hour. You're better off just going home and eating there." He said.

"Or we can all just go to my place and have some Ramen there."

A shadow stood up on the roof of the weapons shop and the boys quickly reached into their pouches and grabbed a few kunai.

"Woah woah woah..calm down it's only me." The figure jumped down from the roof tops and joined the two on the ground.

"Indo-sensei!" Hanzi said in much excitement. Eriya just huffed.

"Come on with me you two, we have some things to discuss."

**:::**

"Ah this is so delicious!" Hanzi shouted as he scarfed down several bowls of hot ramen. "Mmm sensei this is great!"

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Indo's face as she looked at the many bowls stacked up on the side of the table. Her and Eriya was still on their first but this kid was on his thirteenth. Where did he put it all?

"Alright you two.." Indo started, causing the two boys to look up in her direction. Eriya had placed his chopsticks down on the table to show she had his full attention, while Hanzi continued to pig out. "I spoke with the Hokage this evening and he wants to see the two of you and Setsuko in his office tomorrow morning."

Hanzi had stopped eating right away and Eriya quirked his eyebrow slightly. The two averted their gazes from their sensei and looked at each other. Could they have been in trouble? It was probably because their sorry performance today with their mission and they were going to get scolded

Hanzi swallowed town the rest of the noodles in his mouth and pushed the bowl to the side. He had suddenly lost his appetite. "What's he want to see us for Indo-sensei?" Hanzi asked but the woman just shook her head. "I'm not at liberty to tell you that Hanzi, all I was told to do was to inform you to be at his office in the morning." The two boys wore faces of worry. Hanzi more than Eriya. "We're probably going to get stripped from our rank I bet." The boy held his head down and looked at his hands.

Indo placed a hand on the boy's head and scruffed up his hair a little bit. "Just know that it's nothing like what you're thinking of. I can at least tell you that."

The two boy's sighed with relief. That lifted their spirits much higher now. "Well that's good to know, at least I can relax now." The boy stretched and yawned as he laid his head on the table. "Sensei can I use your bath, so I can clean up?"

Indo nodded and pointed down the hallway. "Bath house is down that way and to the left. Everything you need is already in there." The boy tiredly staggered away and made his way to his destination.

Eriya stood from the table and walked to the woman's side, glaring dangerously at her. The woman giggled and turned her head as she continued to wash the dishes. "Must you stare at me like that?"

"You can cut the act now it's only us, now start answering questions. Why are you our sensei?" he said angrily.

"Because the Hokage asked me too." She stated simply and walked out the kitchen. Eriya followed behind her and into the living room area. "So why didn't you deny it?"

"I did." She plopped down on the couch and closed her eyes. "I was pulled from my original mission and made to instruct your group, by the orders of the Hokage." She explained. "Your original instructor was supposed to be Shikamaru Nara but he's in the infirmary. Satisfied you have your explanation.

"No!" He folded his arms and looked away, much like he had done earlier that day. "Another thing, why are you wearing those ridiculous bandages over your face!?"

"Because it's the code of the for my ninja rank Eriya. Only the Hokage are allowed to know our identities." She explained.

"Uh-huh, so tell me, what does the Hokage want to see us for? If we aren't in trouble, then what is it?"

"I told you already," She stood up and walked towards the window, pulling open the curtain to peek outside of them. "I can't give you that information. You'll find out tomorrow. But what you need to do is get some rest. You're going to need it."

"Grr…fine! I'm going to bed, since you wanna go all secretive on me." He stormed out of the living room and straight to his own room, slamming his door behind him.

Indo laid back on the couch and closed her eye. She would have told him but she's not too excited about the whole idea. Eriya would have been but she couldn't stand to look at him be over excited about it because all she envisioned was him and his other two team members laid out on the ground with blood everywhere. She could only hope that the Hokage would change his mind by the morning. But she knew the chances of that happening were slim to zero.

**:::**

The three stood lined up in front of the desk where the Hokage would be sitting and Indo stood beside them. Hanzi was sweating and nervously looking around even though their sensei told them the night before it wasn't anything about them being in trouble. But he didn't know what to believe.

Eriya was blowing smoke from the top of his head while sending dark glares at Indo trying to pull her attention. Indo felt a pair of eyes on her and looked the boy's way. She only smiled and waved, angering the boy even further. He huffed and turned his eyes to the Uchiha girl next to him. She calmly stood with her eyes closed and arms behind her back. Eriya scuffed, remembering him and the girl's almost fight until Indo ruined it. He wanted to go against her since no one else dared to. Just to see what the hype was all about.

"You have a staring problem?" Setsuko spoke up as she opened her eyes and glanced in Eriya's direction.

Eriya laughed lightly. "What makes you think I was staring at you? I could have been just observing Hanzi's nervousness. Shows how into yourself you are."

"What did you say!?" The girl growled, stepping out of line and walking towards the brunet.

"Setsuko, get back in your place, and Eriya keep your comments to yourself." Indo said sternly staring at the two bickering." this is the Hokage's office, have you two no respect?"

The two stepped back and just stared at one another. Eriya wanted so badly just to fight that arrogant girl and knock her off that high pedestal she puts herself on, but he just kept his cool for now, he knew he'd get the chance to soon.

On the right, the door was pushed open and in walked a male wearing a long white and red robe. The male walked behind his desk and took a seat. All three students along with Indo bowed in his presence. The Hokage nodded and the three raised their heads. None of them, besides Indo and Hanzi has seen the Hokage's face before so his true appearance were still shrouded in mystery to them. Indo gulped quietly and started fiddling with the zipper on the front of her jacket.

The Hokage cleared his throat and began to speak. "Good morning you three. It's nice to finally see the ones I have not seen since the first time you entered the academy." He said getting familiar with the faces in front of him. "So I bet you're wondering why I've summoned the three of you here today." His face grew serious and so did the three Genin. Indo was trying her best to keep her composure.

"Well it's been bought to my attention that the three of you seek something more intense and challenging for yourselves." His eyes looked down at the three Genin as their faces changed to perplexity. What was he up to? "I understand how the three of you feel since I was the absolute same when I was in your position. I wanted something that would challenge my abilities. Something that would make me want to look forward to becoming a better ninja. And doing the Genin level missions just weren't cutting it for me. So, since my Hokage gave me a chance, I'm going to do the same for you three." The Hokage took out a scroll and laid it across the table and motioned for the three to come closer. The Genin walked towards the desk and peered down at the scroll. Their eyes lit up with joy and excitement as they seen the large letter in the top right hand corner of the scroll along with the contents of what they would be doing. "Now now you three, this is a very serious mission. This mission requires you to return this little girl," he pointed to the girl's picture on the scroll. Back to Sunagakure in the land of wind."

The three looked at the girl's photo. She hand long auburn hair and bangs that hung over her right eye. Light green eyes and dark black rings around the outer eyes. She also had pale skin and wore a slight smile in the photo. The three nodded and looked up at the Hokage. The girl didn't look like trouble at all, the mission would be a piece of cake.

"She came from Suna to see her grandfather, he's very sick and since that village did not have good enough medics to treat the old man over there, he was bought here to receive treatment from ours." He explained. "But the reason that this mission is so important is because that little girl is the daughter of the Kazekage and right now, Suna are on not so friendly terms with Iwaga in the Land of Earth. By orders of the Tsuchikage, ninja were sent out to kidnap the girl. The ninja of this village are very skilled and fast. They also are very brutal, which is why this mission must have your full focus. The Kazekage is also a very close friend of mine."

The three nodded in unison showing that they were all ready to take on the mission and protect the girl by all means necessary."

"Very well, you all approximately have a week until the girl's departure. Plenty of time for you guys to be prepared and ready." The three nodded and the Hokage dismissed them. Indo looked over her shoulder and the Hokage just gave her a thumbs up. She sighed deeply and shook her head as she walked out the door. She was going to have to really train these three before they left on this mission. If she didn't, then this mission was going to be a complete failure.

"Alright our first real mission haha!" Hanzi celebrated along with Eriya. The two danced around with glee while Setuko just watched them like they were complete idiots.

"Aren't you excited Setsuko I'm sure were the first and only group of Genin to receive an "A" ranked mission! You have to be excited about that!" Hanzi exclaimed.

"Tsk.." The girl just rolled her eyes and walked ahead of the two babbling idiots, her teammates. It was exciting to know that they received such a high ranked mission but it wasn't that exciting to the point she wanted to dance around and do cart-wheels. This was serious like the Hokage had said and it required their full attention.

"Alright you three." Indo said grabbing the attention of all three of them. They turned around and faced the bandaged woman. "This mission is very serious. But I'm not sure you guys are aware of just how serious this is. So let me break it down to you like this; assassins, the use of genjutsu to fool you, ninja that are higher in rank than you are. Nothing Genin like you is prepared for." Indo explained to the three. "So I'll expose you to it all myself, which means instead of training you on a genin level I'll have to push the three of you to the level of Jonin. We have approximately one week until the mission. Meet me in three hours at the third training ground. Don't be late!" she ordered before disappearing into the air, leaving behind a whirlwind full of cherry blossom petals.

"Alright!" Hanzi shouted as he performed a back flip in the air. His two teammates blinked at him and tilted their heads. The boy could be a real pain in the ass at times. "Jonin leveled Genin! We're probably the only ones!" He said thrusting his fist through the air and performing a somersault.

"You're such an idiot! Can you be serious for a minute, instead of celebrating you should be eager to train yourself or gain information. You heard what the Hokage said!" Setsuko yelled out of irritation.

"I am eager!" He smiled "well I'll see you guys later on tonight. Bye!" He sprinted off into town leaving his two teammates in the dust.

**:::**

"She's late again!" Setsuko said, impatiently as she looked around the training ground. There was no one in sight just her and her two teammates.

"Just be patient Setsuko, she'll be here she's preparing something big!" Hanzi said as he looked over at Eriya who seemed to be disturbed by something in the air. "Hey, you alright over there?"

Eriya stood very still as his eyes moved from left to right. Something was definitely afoot. His eyes averted from the skies and over towards Setsuko who appeared to be picking up the same vibe. "Are you sensing it too?"

Setsuko nodded and pointed up at the sky. "Yeah.." Eriya and Hanzi both gazed up at the sky as the clouds above them started greying over until the eventually turned black. The wind started picking up and it soon started to rain. Soon a loud scream from the forest sounded, frightening all three Genin "What was.."

The three swiftly turned around when the trees began stirring. The three stood in a line holding either a shiruken or a kunai knife at ready for whoever it was to pop out from the woods. The bushes swished several times again before a figured leapt into the air at the speed of light.

"Setsuko above you!" Eriya shouted out but the girl was already on it. She tossed two shiruken up at the figure but it missed.

The figure came back down with a loud crash, making a large mushroom cloud of smoke around the three Genin. When the smoke and dust cleared up all that was present was a deep creator in the ground.

"Where, where'd they go?"

The three looked around cautiously for their opponent but there was no sign of him. The air was once again quiet but there was still a disturbance there that they were not too comfortable about. The ground shook violently beneath their feet. They tried to keep their balance but with the tremors so terrible, doing so was nearly impossible.

Soon the surface began to crumble and crack away. The Genin stood in a battle ready stance prepared for whatever it was that they would have to fight, though what they saw wasn't what they had expected. Emerging from the ground was an entire army of the unknown ninja, and they were coming at the three ninja at a fast pace.

They threw a combination of shiruken and kunai at the oncoming army which made Hanzi realize that the unknown ninja was using the Shadow Clone technique. But unlike his, when the clones were hit they turned into dirt but reformed themselves and came back as two. "Guys this isn't looking good at all they multiply…" Hanzi stated.

"Hmm.." Eriya narrowed his eyes as he began studying his surroundings. An army of shadow clones that multiply after they were destroyed. There was no doubt that the real guy was amongst the clones somewhere but they had to get rid of the clones first. There had to be a way to do that only question was how. He placed his thumb under his chin and stared down at the ground. He could always use his shadow technique but all the cloud cover made it impossible. The longest it would last is thirty seconds. He looked over at a frantic Hanzi then at Setsuko who also appeared to be in deep thought as well, if only he knew what she was thinking about.

"You come up with anything yet?" She said dryly as she turned her head in the boy's direction. "Look, we have different views of each other but right now I could care less about that, we have to put our heads together if we want to get rid of this guy."

Eriya nodded his head in agreement. "Sure, alright I was thinking I could use my shadow bind technique to hold these guys in place but it'll only last for thirty seconds due to all the cloud cover. While I'm doing that, Hanzi can use his shadow clone technique to throw shiruken at the clones. They'll disintegrate for a few seconds then come back but it'll give us time to find the real one!"

The Uchiha nodded and took in everything the boy was saying. "Thirty seconds is all you'll need. I'll take care of the real one after you and Hanzi take out the clones."

"What are you going to do?"

"You'll see, just tell Hanzi."

"Prepare to clone yourself Hanzi." Eriya said as he walked towards the other and stepped behind him. He quickly explained the plan to the blond who took a few seconds to process it before shouting "okay" out loud. Eriya closed his eyes and held up his index and middle finger on his left and right hand and crossed them over one another. When the flow of chakra was even throughout his body, Eriya opened his eyes and performed a combination of hand seals, the last one being Ne. "Ninja Art: Shadow Bind Jutsu." The boy said aloud. His shadow, though not very visible stretched across the crumbled ground and laced around the extremities of the ninja's clone army. "Alright Hanzi."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several copies of Hanzi appeared from puffs of smoke and all at once threw a barrage of shiruken at the army, causing them all to disintegrate into mud, leaving the real one standing.

Just as the clones were about to reform, Setsuko performed the hand seal of Uma, Mi, Tora, Saru then took in a deep breath as she launched herself into the air. "Fire Style: Fireball Justsu." She placed her index finger and thumb to her lips and blew which released a orb of flames that collided with the unknown ninja's body.

Setsuko landed back to the ground and ran to her teammate's side. "We did it!" She shouted as Eriya slapped the Uchiha girl a high five. "Yes!"

"Uhm guys…" Hanzi said awkwardly. "I don't think we should celebrate just yet.."

Eriya and Setsuko turned around to see the unknown ninja standing a few meters away from them. He was unscathed, not a cut or bruise on him. The man smirked and slowly closed his eyes as he mumbled something to himself before eyeing the three Genin. "Earth Style," He started

_(This makes no sense…)_ Eriya began to think as he looked from side to side at both his comrades in hopes that they had something to counter what this man was about to do. _(How is he still alive? Setsuko's fire technique should have killed him for sure. Yet he appears unharmed.)_

"You'd think that someone from the village would have shown up by now." Hanzi stated as he prepared another set of Shadow Clones for the battle. Setsuko reached into the pouch on her left leg for a kunai knife.

Eriya pulled his sword from over his shoulder and held it out in front of him with both hands on the hilt. _(That is true, shouldn't someone have noticed by now?)_ This was going to be a long hard battle, so instead of wasting all of his chakra early on, he'd use his own physical strength. He positioned his feet then quickly dashed at the unknown ninja while swinging his blade at him but the weapon did no damage. Instead it went right through the ninja. _(No way!)_

The ninja grabbed the boy's leg and tossed the boy across the field. _(So that's it. All of this is nothing but an illusion!)_ Eriya flew back but he quickly caught himself in the air and made a soft landing upon the surface.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Another set of Hanzi's Clones appeared and raced towards the ninja while Setsuko attempted to attack the ninja as well.

_(Someone's using Genjutsu on us. But who..?) He looked around. (Right not like I'm going to find them, I can't even sense their- Ah!) _He quickly rushed over into the woodsy area and climbed up into the tallest tree where he found the one responsible._ (Got you! Ninja Art: Shadow Bind Jutsu) _His shadow quickly wrapped around the attackers body, catching them off guard.

"What the!?"

"Got you now, Sensei!" He said with a smug grin on his face.

"Release!" Upon him saying this, the ninja as well as the dark eerie surrounding started disappearing from around them and before they knew it, everything was back to normal. All three of them stood in the middle of the training ground. Worn out and tired.

Eriya released his jutsu from around Indo then plopped down on the ground. "Clever…one..there Indo-sensei.."

She chuckled to herself. "Took you long enough to figure it out.

Setsuko was shocked and somewhat jealous that she didn't figure it out first. She huffed and turned away from her comrades, ashamed. Hanzi was just glad the ordeal was over.

"When my sword went right through him it all became clear."

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. "Well that was part one of you guys training. You all did an okay job but not good enough. When on a mission, you have to be able to recognize when Genjutsu is being used right away. If not, well you'll be stuck in a battle like you were before and that can jeopardize your mission. There are three ways to combat Genjutsu one is for the ninja to stop the flow of chakra in their body, and then apply an even stronger power to interrupt the flow of the user's chakra. The second option is to get a ninja not under the influence of the Genjutsu make body contact, and use their chakra to interrupt the users chakra flow. Lastly is to simply release the Genjutsu like Eriya did. But not all Genjutsu can be released which means you would have to find the Genjutsu user and cut off his chakra flow to stop it."

"So how will we know when we're under the influence of Genjutsu Indo-sensei?" Hanzi asked.

"Only you will know that Hanzi. If you're able to identify reality from illusion then it'll be no issue for you. And that's another thing. This type of Jutsu can screw with your mind and drive you close or into insanity depending on what type of illusion the caster decides to use. So be weary…" She said to the three Genin in a serious tone. "But there is much more to all of your training than this which is why I stress so badly for you all to take this seriously. You all have had enough for one day. Go home and get so rest and meet me back here tomorrow afternoon."

**:::**

"Man I'm hungry!"

"Hanzi you're always hungry, name one time since we've teamed up that you haven't' thought about your stomach."

"Hey I'm a growing boy what do you expect? Besides that long training session worked up an appetite. Hey a ramen shop!" He ran and sat up on one of the stools."

Eriya sighed. (Doesn't this guy eat anything else besides Ramen?) "And exactly how are you going to pay for it Hanzi?"

"No worries!" He reached down in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "I got some ryo right- WHAAA!" He looked through every pouch and found nothing but dust. "B-b-b-but I just had some in here earlier today!"

"Might I remind you that before we went training, you spent all your ryo on seven bowls of beef ramen and ten bowls of shrimp ramen." Eriya stated as he joined the boy at the counter. "One bowl of chicken vegetable ramen please!"

"Because they were having a special! All ramen was 100 ryo!"

The cook placed Eriya's bowl down in front of him.

"Thankyou." He said and began to eat right away. "So you decided to splurge?"

Hanzi's stomach growled. "I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help myself! Oh please Eriya can you just buy me one bowl? I'll pay you back I promise!"

"Hmm.." He picked up some of the noodles with the chopsticks and bought it to his mouth. It was the least he could do after the boy accepted him for what he was. And for that He'd always be grateful to him, even if he was a ding-bat at times. "One bowl Hanzi, that's it."

"Ah thank you so much Eriya, you're the best!"

"Yea, yea."

The blonde put his ramen order in then looked over at his other comrade, Setsuko. He smiled and slid off the stool and walked toward the Uchiha girl who was leaning against a piece of cinderblock across from the ramen shop. Maybe he and her could go for a little walk through the village and talk. Try to get to know one another better. He swallowed hard. The very thought of being alone with the Uchiha girl just made him blush. "H-hey there Setsuko.." He said nervously "I was wondering since we have nothing to do for the rest of the day that maybe you and I could-"

Everything the blonde boy was saying didn't even reach the girl. She didn't seem to acknowledge his presence. Her mind was elsewhere. _(Why didn't I realize it the minute the whole occurrence started? The whole thing was blatantly obvious yet I failed to see through the deception.)_ She looked over at the shop where Eriya was sitting, enjoying his ramen. _(But he did. I can't believe I allowed myself to be outdone by him! Well I won't allow it to happen again, never!)_

"Only if you want to alright, those were just a few ideas." He scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Huh…?" She said finally recognizing that the boy was standing there to begin with. "Oh Hanzi, what do you want?"

"Ah!" He frowned and slumped over. "Did you-did you hear anything I said to you?" He asked sadly.

"No, I didn't know you were standing there until now.." She said non-chalantly crushing the boy's heart as she walked passed him.

"Oh..right. Heh thanks for sparing my feelings." He mumbled to himself. "Where are you going!?"

"None of your business!" She said then ran off somewhere in the leaf village.

"Heh.." He pulled himself up in the stool next to Eriya and began eating his ramen. "girls.."

"Which is why I don't involve myself with them. Don't have time for that type of thing right now. It's a waste of time."

"So you don't like girls Eriya!"

"I never said that. I just don't want to get caught up in that type of thing right now, it's too early for all of that. I have other things to worry about besides love." He explained to the boy.

"But love is what pushes people. Without what little love we have today, the world would be chaotic. Love, or just caring for someone or something pushes you and make you want to get better. So you can protect that someone or something, y'know. Everyone has someone or something they want to protect. Even if it's not now they will eventually."

What the blonde was saying made a lot of sense to him in a way. But it wasn't the love of someone that was pushing him to want to become a stronger ninja, for him it was hatred, hatred towards a certain someone. He did have one person he wanted to protect but that person was fully capable of protecting themselves even in the toughest situations. So love had nothing to do with what he was striding for. "You make a brilliant explanation Hanzi but it's not always love that pushes people to do certain things. There are three things in this world that can push someone and they are love, hatred, and revenge." He said as he slid off the stool.

"Then out of those three which one pushes you?"

Eriya chuckled softly. "I'll see you tomorrow Hanzi." He said as he walked of leaving the blonde boy with that thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Eriya lay in bed heavy breaths passed over his lips as terrifying images disturbed his sleep.

'_Desperate cries for help. Petrifying screams of agony. The color red staining the walls and the floor and staining him. Then a boy in the shadows, appeared to be the age of thirteen. He stood there breathing heavily with a manic grin on his face before kicking the body of his last victim of his sword, his father._

_Eriya's eyes fell upon the lifeless body. His father wore a blank expression with blood dripping from both sides of him mouth and torso area where he'd been stabbed. "__Otou-san…" The boy whispered then looked over at another body off to the far right, his mother "Okaa-san.." He said with a little more strain in his voice. What caused this? Why did this happen? And by the hands of…..__**him.**_

"Otou-san….Okaa-san, no." He groaned as he turned in his sleep.

"_I did it…." The teen laughed crazily. "I did it!"_

"_How could you…" Eriya said through gritted teeth as tears rolled down the boy's face Everything was fine the day before. Now this? "Why did you do this….?"_

_The teen boy in front of him stared at the younger boy with a murderous look in his eyes. Eriya never seen this side of the teen boy before and wondered what could have triggered his madness. The teen boy raised his sword and pressed it against the boy's neck. Eriya began to tremble as the cool metal blade hit his neck, the blood from both his parents ran down the blade and dripped off on to the floor. Was this how he was about to die? So young, helpless and oblivious to why this all happened?_

_The sword left his neck and Eriya closed his eyes tightly, as the sword came back down quickly. A splatter of blood splashed over his face._

"Noooooooo!" He shouted out as he sat up in his bed. "No! Nuh.." He grabbed hold of his head making sure it was still attached to his body. "!" He trembled violently, body drenched in sweat as he stood up and walked into the hall and down to the bathhouse. Those images, those sickening and horrible images continued to play in his head. The blood….and that screaming…..

The screaming and cries for help…..

_Gasp…._

He pulled open the door to the bathhouse but suddenly fell down onto the floor and crawled back against the wall, eyes wide and lips trembling with a look of terror on his face. The stench of blood filled his nostrils but the reason for that was clear and in front of him. People were running and screaming as they tried to flee the scene that involved others being killed.

"Again…?"

"No…." He covered his ears as the sounds and cries of help from the people of his clan echoed in his mind. "I-I couldn't do any…anything..I can't"

_(You're weak…) A deep but smooth voice said to him in his mind._

_(Nothing…)_

"I'm not…"

_(Then why did you just stand there and allow your family to die? You had a second chance to save them but you stood there and watched like you did before..")_

"Allow my family to….I didn't I.." Did he really allow this to happen? Was the death of everyone really his fault? He closed his eyes tight as tears began to pour from them and roll down his cheeks. "I-I was scared….I….he did it…not me."

_("And you could have stopped him, yet you did nothing about it…")_

_("Coward…weakling")_

He looked around; corpses littered the floors and the waters, turning it red. And standing there stained with blood was the perpetrator. He could have done something he could have stopped _**him**_ but he just stood there, again and allowed _**him**_ to take their lives.

_("Kill him!" The voice demanded. "He took everything away from you; kill him to avenge your family.")_

The male slowly turned around, holding a corpse by it's hair. Eriya took a closer look but realized it wasn't a corpse at all but his mother, she was alive. "Okka-san!" Eriya reached over his shoulder and grabbed his blade. When he moved to run towards the attacker, his whole body went stiff. He couldn't move. "What the..what's…..?"

The attacker pulled his sword back over shoulder and was swiftly bringing it back towards his victim's throat.

"No! No! No! PLEASE!" Eriya screamed but it was too late.

**:::**

"OKKA-SAN!"

Eriya's sister quickly sat up in the bed upon hearing all the noise in her sleep. She grabbed four or five shuriken and slid open her room door without hesitance and ran down the hall where the noise was coming from. "The bathhouse…?" She opened the door, prepared to throw the four point blades at whoever dared enter her home at this late hour only to find her brother throwing a fit and swinging his sword around at the air.

"Eriya what are you…" Before she had the chance to finish her sentence the boy swung the sword at her but missed when she quickly evaded it by flipping back. "Hey!" She ran directly in front of him just as he was swinging his weapon at her again, and stopped it by allowing the weapon to crash against her forearm. It hurt like hell but she ignored then kicked the frantic boy back, grabbing the sword in the process.

"The hell is wrong with you?" She said then knelt down beside him. "Eriya!"

"He's behind you onee-san move!" He said pushing the girl to the side and picking up his sword before rushing at….nothing?

"Genjutsu…" _(But me entering the room should have interrupted it, why is he still experiencing it. Whoever it is using it must be must be…)_

Her thought process was interrupted when she saw a silhouette of a figure appear on the blinds from the outside. She quickly charged towards the window, breaking through the glass to tackle the person but they easily jumped back and bolted like lightning through the village.

"Oh no you don't!" She quickly jumped from roof to roof until she eventually caught up to the attacker. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." She said and seven clones of herself appeared around the man. She hopped down from the roof and knelt down to the ground, placing her hand on her shadow as she concentrated her flow of chakra into the dark reflection. "Shadow Shuriken!" Her shadow twisted and stretched against the ground until it took on the form of a fuma shuriken. She picked up the weapon and flung it at towards the man's direction. At this, she allowed her shadow clones to disappear.

The man thought this to be the perfect chance to make a getaway and began to make a run for it. She waved her arm in an arch and the shuriken she had thrown broke from its original path and clashed with the right side ninja's body, knocking him of balance. She waved her arm in the same arch ten or fifteen times, allowing the shuriken to do a substantial amount of damage to the ninja, the after image it left behind also causing damage. When she thought it was enough she called the shuriken back and caught it in her hand.

The man fell face first to the ground, wheezing an coughing up large sums of blood. He tried to get up but he couldn't feel any parts of his body.

The girl slowly approached him and kept him in place with the shadow bind technique. "Start talking, who are you?" She couldn't see any part of the man's body except for his legs and feet since his top part was covered in a black cloak. The man started out with a low laugh that gradually became loud and obnoxious, which only fueled the girl's anger even further. "I said answer!" She flung the shuriken at the cloaked man but much to her surprise it went poof. "What the…a-a shadow clone!?"

"Reaper Shadow Claw!"

"What!?" She quickly turned around but was not quick enough with her movement and was attacked by the large clawed hand. "GAAAAHGH!" The claw slammed her body against the ground and pierced through her shoulders, arms, and legs.

She huffed puffed and breathed in heavy breaths as she seen her blood soaking up the ground around her. She tried to wiggle around but that only made the pain she was feeling from her wounds worsen.

"You've improved since last we fought…" The voice of an adolescent male spoke.

The girl grumbled as she looked up to see the attacker pulling his hood off of his head.

"But you're still not better than me!?" The male said further as he finally revealed his face. He had a tanned complexion with long dark brown curly hair that he wore in a low ponytail and misty grey eyes identical to the girl on the ground. "Good to see you, Imōto"

She glared as a wave of angry emotions overwhelmed her. If she wasn't stuck in the position she was in then she would….she didn't really know what she would do. "You, bastard, how dare you come here!"

"Now is that anyway to greet your brother after not seeing me for such a long time?" He said calmly.

"You're no brother of mine after the stunt you pulled five years ago!"

The memories of the killings that he performed sometime ago played back in his mind, a smile crept on his lips and he started to laugh. "Oh, that. You disown me because of that? I did it for us imouto and Atarashī Yoake. Join me and you, Eriya and I can follow through with the Jiro clan legacy!"

Atarashī Yoake? Jiro Legacy? "Atarashī Yo-" She coughed violently and cringed at the pain flowing through her body. "I-I don't care who you did it for but you're going to pay for what you've done." With what little strength she had she created four shadow clones behind him without him noticing. "Shadow Shuriken!" The four clones shouted out loud and launched their weapons at the teen boy.

"Nice try." The attack connected but the figure went poof again, as did the jutsu he used on her.

She stood from the ground but fell back to her knees. She felt weak from the amount of blood she had lost and was still losing. "You coward.." She breathed. "Coward, come out and fight me yourself…!" She said, though she was in no condition to fight any further.

"Gladly…" A figure leapt out from a tree across from where she was positioned. "Reaper Shadow Cl-"

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, emerging from the sky and attacking the ninja in mid-air. He and the teen boy went crashing to the ground, making a creator in the surface. When the smoke cleared from sight, Naruto wasn't at all surprised to notice the ninja was gone. "A shadow clone.." He hopped from the creator in the ground and felt the presence of another's chakra in the area but they were fleeing. Whoever it was, they were gone now. But who was he?

"Are you alright? He said rushing to the girl's aid.

She frowned, she felt a little ridiculous for having to be save by the Hokage but more or less she was just glad to be alive. "Th-thank….you." She managed to mumble then blacked out.

* * *

"Onee-san…" Eriya stood on the outside of the infirmary peering through the small window, watching as Sakura tended to his sister's wounds. The Hokage came to him this morning and explained that his sister was attacked by a rouge ninja in the middle of the night that he couldn't identify. But he promised that he will do everything to find out who it was and take care of the issue.

He sighed sadly and slid down against the door. It's been almost eight hours since the incident and his sister was still unconscious. But what bugged Eriya the most is that he could barely remember what occurred last night except for his nightmare and a voice in his head. After that everything was blank. He couldn't even figure out how he went from his bed to winding up in the bathhouse.

The door slowly swung open and Sakura walked out. Eriya quickly stood up and looked at the woman, who gave a small smile. "I've done what I could. I healed her wounds as much as I could but they were very severe." She explained

The boy dropped his head sadly but Sakura knelt down to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "You're sister is very strong Eriya, she'll pull through I'm sure of it."

"Thank you, Sakura." He walked pass her and into the room. There he sat down on the side of the bed and laid his head on his sister's chest. "Onee-san…."

Sakura gave a small smile and shut the door so the boy can have his privacy.

* * *

_(Who was that ninja?)_ Naruto turned from his desk and faced the large window that showed a beautiful view of Konoha as well as the Hokage Monument. The memories of when he became Hokage flashed into his mind and the promises he made. Especially the one promise he made to always keep the village and the people in it safe. But now a new possible threat snuck in last night and nearly killed one of the leaf ninja. He had to do something where would he start he has no lead on this ninja's whereabouts, this only frustrated him more.

"Stressing Naruto?"

The blonde male sighed and kept his eyes glued on beautiful view of the village. "Kakashi-sensei." Even though he was Hokage he still referred to the man as sensei.

Kakashi closed the book he was reading and leaned against the wall, Naruto still made no sudden movements or even attempted to make eye contact with the man. "It's about that attack isn't it?"

Naruto didn't answer so Kakashi took it as a yes. "Figured, no sense in over-working your mind about it Naruto. Out of everyone you're the one who has to remain calm even if you're worried, for the sake of the people in this village." He explained.

"If anything, you should wait until the girl recovers and ask her if she recognized or even knows the ninja."

He was right, but he had no idea when she would wake up he only hoped it would be soon.

"You're right thank you Kakashi-sens-" He turned around but the man was gone.

Naruto turned back towards the window and continued to admire the view, his mind was more at ease now.

* * *

Eriya stepped out of the hospital and began walking through town. Everyone was talking about what occurred the night before while some worried about the safety of themselves. He was worried but not as much as they were. Unlike them he was capable of doing something about the situation. All he wished to know is who it was that way he could-

'_Out of those three what pushes you..?'_

He shook his head twice then glanced up at the sky. The puffy white clouds were slowly drifting across the massive blue as his mind wondered about what he would do if he ever caught, the one responsible for his sister being emitted to the hospital.

'_Out of those three what pushes you..?'_

"Damn get out of my head!" He shouted, receiving odd looks and distasteful glares as well as ugly comments and whispers from the villagers. He frowned, by now he was used to enduring all of the hate the people directed towards him. It seemed no matter what he did the views of others would never change. To them he'd always be the jinchuriki, a monster. In his mind he didn't care but in his heart he did. If he was going to be a ninja he had to have the trust of others. Without it he'd get nowhere.

How'd the Hokage do it? Be surrounded by so much hate but still have such a positive outlook on everything? Stride through life and become what he is today? The boy just didn't understand.

He huffed. At the end of the day it didn't matter. He had other reasons why he wanted to become a great ninja. And what others thought of him was not going to stop him.

'_Out of those three what pushes you..?'_

He frowned and stared down at the ground blankly. He remembered when he wanted to become a ninja just to help people, help his village, and do things for the greater good. But then…

That massacre

The massacre of his whole clan and for the purpose of what…? Not even his sister knew what caused that boy to kill their whole family. But he would find and kill him!

'_Out of those three what pushes you..?'_

"Hate, and vengeance…" He whispered to himself. Saying those words aloud made him want his ambition to be true and accomplish it as soon as possible.

He picked his head up from the ground and continued walking.

"Heeeeeey!"

_(Oh boy the pest…)_ He didn't stop his pace and kept going.

"Eriya wait up!" Hanzi called. "Eriya!"

"What Hanzi?" He said in an annoyed tone, finally slowing down to see what the blonde boy wanted.

Hanzi finally caught up and sat down on the ground to catch his breath. "a-are-are" He breathed. "Are you okay?" He asked and stood to his feet and stretched his arms over his head .

"What are you talking about?"

"Well I heard about what happened to your sister last night."

Geez even he knew! "I'm fine Hanzi…"

"Another thing," the blonde boy added. "Where is sensei, she told us to meet her at the third training ground but she didn't show. I was waiting for an hour and a half!"

Eriya looked away from the boy. "I-I don't know…" He mumbled sadly.

"She's always late, figured you'd be accustomed to that by now." Setsuko stated as she walked out from behind a tree.

Eriya and Hanzi both turned around to see the Uchiha girl, standing behind them. The girl stood with her hands across her chest and the same blank stare that she usually wore. How long was she there? "Oh, hey Setsuko, what's up?" Eriya spoke.

The girl's expression changed up quickly and her eyes rolled from right to left. "I have…" She wanted to ask him something but as usual her pride was getting in the way. She felt like she was stooping down to a lower level when it came to asking others for help or about information period. Especially Eriya, she couldn't stand him as an individual. And her asking him anything would probably boost his ego. She would ask Hanzi but he was dumber than a box of rocks. She pushed the blonde boy to the side and stepped closed to the brunet. "How did…how did you figure out that sensei was using Genjutsu the other day?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Eriya blinked twice before a big smile stretched across his face, something that Setsuko was afraid of. This was rich. The Uchiha girl was asking for his help on something. This was rare! He knew something that she didn't. He chortled and brushed his index finger across the bridge of his nose. "It was obvious, who wouldn't have known. I was actually surprised that you weren't aware of this, since the Uchiha clan are _supposed_ to be very skilled ninja and all. Guess that rumors were false." He laughed.

"Take that back!" She said raising a fist at the boy.

"Now, now you two, there is no need for arguments." He said trying to persuade his teammates not to fight. "Come on, Eriya just tell her."

"Stay out of it Hanzi!" Setsuko said, pushing the boy out of the way.

"Make me!" Eriya said blandly. "You're family is just another clan of average ninja just like any other ninja in Kanoha, there is nothing superior or special about the Uchiha clan, oh wait, except for that freaky thing your clan can do with their eyes. I haven't seen you use it yet, probably can't!"

The Uchiha girl couldn't take anymore of the boy bad mouthing her family and tackled him to the ground. Her fist swung back and clashed with his right cheek. She went for another swing but Eriya caught it and punched her in the face with her own fist then gave her a quick kick in the stomach which made the girl tumble back a little.

"Guys stop it!" Hanzi shouted at them but his voice went unheard.

"That all you got? Is this all Uchiha's can do!?" Eriya said as he stood to his feet. He wiped the little bit of blood from the side of his lip and stared at Setsuko. "Don't make me laugh." Setsuko stood to her feet then quickly dashed at the brunet, sick of him mocking her strength and her family. "I'll show you!" She threw two shuriken in the boy's direction. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Eriya quickly parried the two shuriken the girl had thrown then landed back on the ground upon his feet. And also evaded the fireball by rolling to the right, but still suffered from a minor burn on his leg for not being quick enough. "Oh so now you want to get serious, about damn time!"

Eriya got into a defensive stance one hand out in front of him while the other one was on the hilt of his sword while observing what his rival was going to do next. When it appeared she was up to nothing the boy made his move. He pulled his sword from over his shoulder with one hand and held it out in front of him. The boy closed his eyes and placed his hand on the swords body. The Uchiha took advantage of this and rushed at the boy without thinking.

"Shadow Imitation Blade." Eriya threw his sword as if he was aiming towards the girl but she dodged it. Setsuko smirked and performed a few hand signs and prepared to use her jutsu but was pulled down to the ground by an unknown force and her whole body went numb.

"Wh-what M-my body..I can't move. What did you do!?"

Eriya smiled and stared at his blade that was stuck in the ground. It wasn't just stuck anywhere, but directly in the girl's shadow. "You were careless. Instead you be cautious you charged in and got cocky. I infused my chakra with my sword, giving it the effect of my shadow technique. I threw the sword at you because I knew you would dodge it. Upon you doing that, my sword pierced your shadow, paralyzing you until I remove it. Guess the Uchiha aren't so great, like I've stated before. Give up now?"

"You wish…why would I give up to someone like you? You're nothing just weak; you got lucky, you really don't stand a chance against me!"

Eriya froze and his eyes narrowed at the Uchiha girl. He grit his teeth and began grinding them together. How dare she insult him like that, referring to him as nothing and weak. Who did she think she was?

"Weak…" He whispered through gritted teeth. His body was starting to grow hot and he could feel his blood quickly rushing through his veins. "I'll show you weak!" Eriya dashed at the Uchiha girl so fast it was almost impossible to see him.

"_You're weak…"_

"_Nothing…"_

"No, you're nothing!"

Eriya snatched his blade out of the ground and swung the blunt edge into the girl's stomach, launching her into the air. He jumped up behind her and swung the weapon at her back then followed it up with a combo of punches and kicks.

Setsuko's body slammed back to the grounds surface and bounced back a few feet away from the male. She coughed harshly ash she rolled over and tried to push herself from the ground with her elbows but failed when she started coughing again. She took in a few deep and heavy breaths as she turned her head to face Eriya. The boy still looked at her with narrowed eyes, standing in a position that showed he was ready to fight. She huffed, how was she letting this boy beat her this way. If her father was here to witness this he'd be ashamed. She had to beat him. She stood to her feet slowly but regretted it.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Bind Jutsu." His shadow wrapped around the girl's extremities and pulled her back against the ground. He walked up to her and stood over her, his eyes still burning with anger and rage as he watched the girl try to wiggle free from his shadow's grasp.

_("And you did nothing about it…")_

_("Coward…weakling..") The voice continued in his mind._

"I am not weak!" he said "I'll show you…I'll show you!" He spoke then started performing hand seals while saying them aloud.

"Tora, Ushi, Ne, Ushi, Tora, Tatsu, Mi, Ushi, Hitsuji, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Ne, Inu, Saru, Tori, Ne, I, Tatsu, U, Mi, Uma, Tora,"

Setsuko still tried to struggle free of the shadow but it was still useless. She had no idea what he was about to do but she had a feeling it was something very dangerous. On top of that Eriya looked enraged. Did calling him weak really send him over the edge like that? What was wrong with this kid?

"Saru, Inu, U, Mi, Ushi, Hitsuji, Tatsu!"

Before he had the chance to speak the jutsu he was going to use, something whisked out of nowhere and punched the boy in the side of his head. The boy flew back and clashed into a tree. Unable to focus his chakra the jutsu he had on Setsuko was released.

The commotion didn't go unnoticed for Naruto emerged from his home. Hanzi stepped back away from the little scenario and stood under the tree across from Eriya. He tried to get the two to stop but neither one of them listened, he wished that he would have noticed earlier that they were in fact in front of his house. He was a little irritated which was rare on his part because he never got irritated but most of all embarrassed that his father witnessed this. Why couldn't these two just get along?

"What's going on out here?" Naruto asked.

Setsuko stood up from the ground and dusted herself off. Once again she made a fool of herself, getting help from another. "I didn't need your help I could of handled him on my-"

"F-father!?" She stammered very surprised that he intervened in all of this. Now she was really embarrassed. Her own father had to step in and save her.

"Apologies Naruto, I was just passing by and noticed the combination of hand seals he was performing and had to stop him."

"What was wrong with the hand seals Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I remember fighting a ninja a while ago that used that same combination of hand seals. They perform a very dangerous forbidden jutsu." He looked at his daughter then glared back at Eriya. "What the hell were you thinking, what possessed you to try and use that jutsu? And on your teammate."

The boy did not answer right away and just kept his eyes directed at the ground, his body trembling from the build-up of rage he had against the Uchiha girl after her choice of words she spat at him. Now her father was stepping in. He really just wanted to scare her to prove to her that he was no weakling like she assumed him to be. "Sh-she called me weak…." He said in a vexed tone. His eyes peered up momentarily at the Uchiha and her normal blank expression was present once more, she didn't appear scared or shaken up about anything that had just occurred. Was there anything that could break this girl's stoicness? He wanted to see the smallest fear in the girl even if it was for a second.

"So you decided to use a forbidden jutsu to prove to her otherwise? And of all places in front of the Hokage's home?" He said then looked back at the Uchiha girl who lowered her head.

_(Forbidden Jutsu?)_ Stesuko thought. _(How is it that he knows how to do so much and he's just a Genin like me?)_ She glared at the boy then turned to the side, huffing and folding her arms. Forbidden jutsu was only known by the Hokage or high ranked shinobi, yet this guy was neither and knows one. It wasn't fair. _(Lucky my father did show up or I'd probably be dead right now, but still it would have been interesting just to see what the jutsu would do, but at another time.)_

"What you've showed was weakness." Setsuko heard her father speak who was still scolding the boy. Setsuko glanced over at Eriya and smirked smugly at the boy but it went unseen by him since his eyes were at the ground. "Trying to prove to others that you're stronger than them by using a jutsu that isn't supposed to be used is beyond weakness. It's cowardice. Real shinobi prove their strength in other ways."

"He's absolutely right," Naruto stated, walking down from the porch. "There are other ways to prove your strength to one another but trying to do that by over powering one another is a terrible way of going about it. I know that in each team there is rivalry and there is always two or one that wish to be better than the other. Sasuke and myself has gone through it already. And I can't stop that. But I will not allow any of you to try and kill one another. If I catch any of you using forbidden jutsu against one another, you'll be stripped of your ranks and never allowed to become a ninja. Am I understood?"

The three Genin looked at one another and nodded their heads. "Yes.."

"Good, you three are a team and will always be a team, it's about time you start acting like one." Were his last words before returning to his home.

Eriya fell to his knees and Hanzi ran to his side to help him up but he just shoved him away and pulled his knees to his chin.

So he was being called a coward? Is that what he was? That's not what he wanted to be called or referred to as by anyone; Eriya the coward. That was so degrading it was already bad enough that no one in the village liked him, to another a terrible name besides monster to that would have made life for him even worse. He shook his head violently and started to weep. That's not what he wanted to be. "I'm sorry Setsuko…" he whispered quietly then ran off.

**:::**

"You two are always fighting, honestly you two need to try and get along better." Hanzi stated then folded his arms behind his head. He was becoming very irritated with eriya and Stsuko's constant squabbling but Setsuko didn't seem to care and Eriya was nowhere in sight.

His mind floated from his anger toward his teammates and focused on the fact that the brunet boy had ran off earlier. "Where do you think he went off to?"

"Like I care. Why would I search for someone that tried to kill me? If you're that worried about him look for him yourself. I'm out of here." Setsuko took off into the village leaving Hanzi to search for their teammate alone. He sighed. Setsuko could really be full of herself at times but she had a valid point this time. He wouldn't go out searching for someone that tried to take his life from him either. But Unlike Setsuko, He had a better understanding of Eriya than she did. But for him to react the way he did just because she called him weak, was over the top.

"Why does it matter what rank I am? I'm not going that far out of the village!" Hanzi heard the familiar voice and his walking came to a stop a few feet away from the village entrance.

"If you're a ninja and you're under the rank of a Jounin, you're not allowed to leave the village unless you're with your appointed team leader."

"Eriya!" Hanzi yelled, waving his arms in the air so his teammate can see him. "He ran to the boy and stopped at his side. "What are you doing over here?" He asked staring up at the Jounin that was glaring down at them.

"What do you want Hanzi?"

"I was looking for you. You kind of ran off after you and Setsuko fell out. So I just wanted to come see if you're alright."

He looked at Hanzi then back at the Jounin. It appeared that he wasn't going to be getting anywhere with this jerk standing here so arguing with him was pointless. He sighed and turned around where he began walking back into the village, Hanzi right behind him. He sat down on the ground next to one of the shops and sighed.

'_Out of those three what pushes you..?' _Hanzi's words rang in his ears again.

"Hate and vengeance…" He said out loud again.

"Huh?" Hanzi hummed. "You alright?"

"Remember? You asked me what pushes me to want to become a better ninja. It's hate and vengeance..."

Hanzi blinked twice then looked up at the sky. He remembered the stories that his father told him about Sasuke when he followed the path of vengeance, blinded by nothing but pain. It didn't go well at all. Thousands died at Sasuke's hand while many who lived through the terror are still scarred today. Would Eriya go through the same ordeal? He didn't want that to happen to his friend. "I know, that I only know very little about what you're going through Eriya but, whatever it is, don't let it blind you. Always keep in mind the good things of the person you despise so much if there are any, and if there's none, then try forgiveness.."

Forgiveness was out of the way. That wasn't going to happen. This person has caused him so much grief and pain, no reasoning and forgiveness was not an option. He needed to feel the pain he felt when he took everything away from him. "I will never forgive him. You can try to talk me out of it Hanzi but it'll be like you're talking to a wall. I won't listen to you."

"You're such an idiot!" Setsuko said walking up to the two and leaning against the wall of the accessory shop. How is it that she kept appearing out of nowhere? "My father told me every story about when he went down the path of vengeance and he is not proud of it one bit. Just think about it, you'd do anything to get revenge, even if it means killing innocent people to get to that person. Is that something you really want to do?" She asked the brunet. She was never one to give advice but after overhearing the conversation she felt the need to say something.

The brunet boy looked up at his two teammates and thought for a few seconds. What they said made a lot of sense. It didn't change his mind in the least but the thought of killing innocent people would make him no better than_** him. **_He'd never shed innocent blood just to get to the one he hated so much. He nodded. "You're right. Even though you guys cannot change my mind, I'll make you guys this promise;" He took out a kunai knife from his pocket and pressed it against the palm of his hand. "I promise that when I take my path of vengeance, I will not kill innocent people." He said and dragged the kunai across his hand, drawing blood. The wound healed just seconds after.

"That's my promise." He said then dropped his hand back to his side.

Setsuko nodded then grabbed the hand that he cut. "Oath keeper seal technique!" She said then slapped the palm of her hand against his.

Hanzi and Eriya both sweat dropped. "Wha-what was that?" Hanzi asked confused.

"Had to make it official, now if you break your promise I will kill you…" She said darkly.

"That wasn't even a real jutsu.." Hanzi stated.

"It's real if I say so!" She shouted making the boy shy away behind Eriya.

Eriya laughed then smiled at the Uchiha girl for the first time. "Thanks…Setsuko."

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "That doesn't mean I still don't wanna beat you!" She stated but smiled for him afterwards.

"You're on, we'll get our chance and we'll see who's the strongest!"

She nodded in agreement.

Hanzi smiled. He was glad that his two teammates were finally starting to get along he had a feeling it was going to be this way for a long time. "Alright now let's go find Indo-sensei. And when we do we'll give her a good lecture about showing up on time!" The blonde said, pumping his fist in the air.

"That's for sure!" Setsuko agreed.

"She's not coming…" Eriya said, making his teammates look at him. "What do you mean Eriya?" It was Hanzi who asked.

He sighed. Remember the attack that happened last night. Well Indo-sensei was there.." He started.

"Whaaat?" Hanzi exclaimed. "But my dad said there were only two ninja there, your sister and the rouge ninja.

Eriya nodded. "I know. The reason why Indo-sensei isn't here is because she was the one who was attacked. She's my sister.."

"Whaaat!?" Hanzi and Setsuko both said in unison. "Your sister!?" They said in unison again.

"Yes. I had no intentions on telling you guys cause I thought you might have caught on by my weird behavior when she's around but seems you guys didn't." He shrugged.

"So why tell us now?" Setsuko wondered.

"Because I felt that you guys would have thought she abandon us when she didn't."

"Well this was definitely a shocker, at least we know now." Hanzi said casually. "One more thing," he asked.

"Yea?"

"Why does she cover up her face behind those bandages and wear that lower face mask!?" He asked.

"Because she's an Anbu Black Ops." He said. "Only the Hokage are allowed to see their faces."

"Ooooooh, makes sense now."

"How is she?" Setsuko asked, concerned about their sensei's health.

"Well you're mom healed her up as much as she could. I stayed and hoped that she would wake but she didn't.." His face dropped. Indo was the only family he had left and if anything happened to her he didn't know what he would do. It was rare for her to lose or get seriously injured in a battle against anyone. Even when she went out on her missions for the Hokage she never came back with a scratch. So to see her lying up in the infirmary severely wounded devastated him. "I just hope she'll be alright.."

"She'll be fine.." Setsuko said and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "With my mother taking care of her she'll be back in good health in no time, you'll see."

"Yea!" Hanzi stated. "And she'll be back to her old self believe it!"

Eriya smiled he was glad to have the support of his teammates. "Thanks guys." At least he knew he wasn't alone and that when he needed someone he could confide in his two teammates. A morning that started out bad actually turned out to be a good one after all.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey onee-san…" Eriya said and sat down on the bed next to his sister. He smiled and gently touched his sister's face. It was warmer than usual as well as very clammy. All she did was groan and twitch every now and then which opted the brunet to think she was experiencing some kind of pain. He sighed and lay his head down on her stomach to hide the tears that started stream from his eyes. For some reason he couldn't blame no one else but himself for this happening. The ninja that did this didn't go without blame but he couldn't help but think what if. What if he was awake when she discovered the ninja? What if he was with her when she decided to go after the ninja? What would have happened if he protected her?

_(Weakling…)_

"I'm sorry onee-san…" He said through his tears.

Accompanied by him was the other two Genin of his team, Setsuko and Hanzi. The Uchiha girl placed a vase on the table beside her sensei's bed. In it was three beautiful white flowers fading into a midnight blue color at the tips of the petals. She had bought them from Ino's flower shop before visiting. She told her that it was a special flower that relieves people from stress and pain. She called it the Sourusūza.

Hanzi's eyes fell upon their sensei and he could do nothing but frown at the sight. Both her arms and legs were bandaged up and a thin tube running from a pouch with clear liquid in it was taped to the back of her hand. It had been a total of four day since the incident and their sensei was still lying here in this bed unconscious. Day in and day out he, Setsuko, and mostly Eriya hoped for better results each day but they received the same answer from the nurses as well as Sakura, there was no change in her state except that her fever kept increasing. Did this mean that their sensei would die? That couldn't happen because then who would teach him and the others what they needed to learn as Genin? What about their mission that was coming up in a few days?

Then the fact that she hasn't awaken yet had put a lot of stress on his father's shoulders. Without her he would never be able to find out who her attacker was and stop him from future problems. He even appointed Kakashi as their temporary team leader until she was to recover. Kakashi was great and they had learned a lot from him over the past four days but, he didn't want to get comfortable with a new sensei he liked his current one, Indo. "Wake up…" His voice started out small but eventually grew louder to the point that his teammates could her him. "Sensei!"

Eriya raised his head from the bed and wiped his eyes to see Hanzi climbing on top of his sister's body. and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and started shaking her. "You have to wake up you have to!" He said continuing to shake the unconscious woman. "You're the only one who can tell us what happened not only that we need you. Wake up!"

"Stop it Hanzi!" Eriya pushed the boy off his sister and he tumbled off the bed and onto the floor. He frowned and pushed himself up against the wall clenching his fists together. Eriya stared at the boy and blinked several times as he tried to figure out what emotion it was that Hanzi was going through. He knew it wasn't anger, there was a tad of frustration in the mix and something else but he couldn't blame him. Even Setsuko seemed to be flustered but her eyes showed it more than her expression. It was then that he realized that he wasn't the only one suffering here.

The door slid open and it was one of the nurses telling them that the visiting hours were over for the day and that they could come back and see her the next day. Eriya sighed, he really didn't want to leave her side for every time he left all he could ever do is think the worse. He wanted to stay with her until she woke up but knew the nurse wouldn't allow that. "If anything changes, you'll let us know right?" He looked over his shoulder at his still groaning sister and bit his lip before turning back to face the nurse.

"We will inform you right away." The nurse responded. With those final words the Genin left the hospital.

It was a couple of hours since they had left the hospital and the Genin had traveled off into the woods. Since Kakashi had nothing to teach them for the day, they decided to go off and practice what they've learned. "Alright, I think this area is big enough, let's train here." Hanzi suggested in a dead-panned voice. He wasn't at all in his normal lively mood since they'd left the hospital which didn't go unnoticed by his two teammates, especially Eriya. It was very strange seeing Hanzi in such a down mood and it made everything around him feel like it was slowly dying away.

Setsuko didn't even look or seem as determined as she usually would when it came to a day of training. Her expression was empty just like earlier but her eyes showed much emotion the way they were glistening in the light of the sun. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that she was about to shed tears.

"Alright guys.." Eriya said, his voice cracking as he spoke. He realized this but he ignored it for his teammate's sake. They all walked over to an individual tree and stood in front of it. "Remember what Kakashi-sensei said, an adequate amount of chakra to our feet will allow us to climb a tree, too much or too little will give us other results." He smiled and glanced at both his teammates. "First one to the top of their tree wins, losers have to," He thought for a second. "Ah! Losers have to buy everyone Ramen!" He thought that the mentioning of that would put some spark back into the blonde's personality but it didn't he still presented the same frown.

Eriya shook his head and his eyes as did the other two and they began to concentrate their chakra flow to the soles of their feet. Setsuko was one of the first to budge from her position and run up the length of the tree but when she got half way to the top, the area of the tree where her left foot touched down cracked the tree bark. "Damn." She quickly pulled a kunai out and scratched it along the tree bark to mark the spot she reached before falling safely back to the ground.

She looked up and watched as the other two took off up the tree but they didn't get nearly as close as she did. Hanzi barely made it from the bottom and Eriya had used too much chakra to the point it snapped the tree in half and he came crashing back down to the ground. The Uchiha girl pointed her eyes in the direction of both her teammates. Hanzi was rubbing the top of his head and Eriya was rubbing his back. Her lips curved up into a small smile then eventually she started to giggle which turned into a burst of laughter at her two teammates. "I got the highest!" She said pointing to the near tippy top of the tree.

Hanzi and Eriya both grumbled and pointed a finger in her direction. "You didn't make it all the way to the top so stop boasting!" Eriya said feeling his competitive side rising up.

"Yea but I bet I'll make it to the top before you." She said then stuck her tongue out at him. "Better yet I bet I'll make it to the top before the both of you!" She then looked at Hanzi who blinked a few times. His mind was scattered everywhere right now which is why he didn't get nearly as high as the other two did. He had to focus. "You're on Setsuko." He said, standing from the ground and dusting off his pants. "There is no way I'm going to let myself be beat by a girl!" He said, and stuck his tongue out to anger the Uchiha. "What do you say Eriya?"

"Oh yea definitely with you on that Hanzi." He nudged the others arm then slapped him high five. "Let's show her what we're made of, remember losers buy the winner Ramen.

"I like vegetable and shrimp Ramen, just to let the two of you know." Setsuko stated.

"Yea well I like beef!" Eriya said.

"And I like 'em all!" Hanzi shouted and threw his arms up over his head.

:::

"Man this blows.." Eriya complained as he placed his share of ryo on the counter top at the ramen shop, he then folded his arms across his chest and huffed. He hated loosing.

"Who are you telling…" Setsuko said slapping the ryo from her pocket onto the counter. "We got beat by this goofball." She said motioning her eyes in Hanzi's direction.

"Haha! I did it believe it! Believe it!" The blonde boy said as he drank down his third bowl of delicious ramen. He grinned down at his two teammates and brushed his finger across his nose. "Aww, don't look so sad you two, we have other areas to cover in our training, so there are many more bets to come!"

They both rolled their eyes and turned away from their friend who continued to be a glutton over his food. Eriya looked out at the clouds, looking at how the sun reflected off of them giving them a pink-ish orange color with a bit of yellow mixed in with it. He didn't notice until now that the sun was setting. They were training all day. He even began to realize how fatigued and tired his body was. But he didn't want to go home.

"Figured I'd find you three here."

Setsuko and Eriya were the first two to turn around. Hanzi continued to stuff his face with food.

"Okka-san?" Setsuko spoke. Her eyes rolled to the corner to see Hanzi devouring his food like a child that has been in poverty. She chuckled, remembering when that used to be Naruto. Seems he passed his trait down to his son. She cleared his throat then looked back in the direction of the of the other two. "I have good news.."

Eriya looked up at the woman, his eyes grew slightly with eagerness at the pink haired woman. His heart was pounding and a lump formed in his throat that he couldn't swallow down.

Sakura looked down at the boy and nodded her head. "Your sister has awakened." She said. "But, she's still not that well."

His face dropped at the last bit of news but most of all he was thankful that his sister was going to be alright. "Thank you Sakura." He said with a small smile, then looked back at Setsuko who was also smiling. "So can we see her?"

The woman nodded and motioned for them to follow her. Eriya followed in suit while Setsuko went and grabbed Hanzi though he wasn't finished with his food, and followed right after.

The Genin entered their sensei's hospital room and as Sakura said before they arrived, she was indeed awake. "Onee-san!" Eriya shouted and hugged his sister tightly."

"Not so tightly, I'm still slightly sore." She said hoarsely.

"Sorry.." He released her and backed away with a smiled. "I was so worried about you…I thought.." He dropped his head to the floor. "I thought..I was going to lose you.."

She reached out and placed a hand on top of his head. She understood his reason for being so upset. They were all each other had. If something was to happen to him she wouldn't know what to do with herself and vice versa. "I'll never leave you otouto, that's one thing you'll never have to worry about." She said then grunted in pain.

"You promise…?" He pushed.

She nodded slowly and smiled for the little boy though it was unseen. "I promise."

"You better not." Setsuko stated. "Then who's gonna teach us what we need to learn..?"

Indo was shocked, after the Uchiha's unruly behavior. She began to think that she'd never come around. The girl's behavior never really bothered her because all members of the Uchiha acted that way. "Like I stated before I'm not going anywhere." She smiled again then turned her eyes towards the blonde boy of the group, Hanzi. She blinked three times though very slowly. The boy was staring at her but it also felt like he was staring through her. "Hanzi, what is it?"

His two team members quickly glanced in the boy's direction and quickly noticed something different about him. The vein's around his temples and eyes were more bulging and more defined and his pupils were much more visible than usual. His Dōjutsu was activated.

Hanzi was quiet while looking at his sensei, well looking at the flow of chakra through her body. What he seen was highly unusual. With the normal color of chakra being blue, the chakra running through his sensei's body was an emerald green color, symbolizing that she was suffering from poison. He deactivated his dōjutsu and quickly dashed out of the room to find Sakura. He remembered back at the academy, when they were learning about chakra, that there were many different shades of green chakra but emerald green was a dangerous color if flowing within the body. The one affected would never know it. No one would because the flow of chakra in the body cannot be seen unless they had special eyes, the Byakugan.

Hanzi came to a short stop after passing down a hall that he seen the pink haired girl walking down. Quickly he turned around and ran up behind the woman. "Sakura!" He shouted while pulling at the bottom edge of his shirt.

The woman turned around and looked down at the boy. He was huffing and puffing while halfway bent over trying to catch his breath. "Hanzi?" She knelt down to the boy's height and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Indo?

He shook his head. "N-no but there is something wrong with her!" He said in a frantic tone and began explaining what he saw to the woman. As he continued telling the woman what he'd seen, Setsuko and Eriya turned down the corner and ran up to his side. "What's going on with you?"

"Setsuko," Sakura called to her daughter. "You and your friends are going to have to leave for now, you all can come back and see Indo tomorrow." She said with a look of concern on her face. He eyes switched back to Hanzi and nodded at him before swiftly rushing off.

"Wh-what was that about?" Setsuko asked looking over at Hanzi. Eriya was too busy looking in the direction in which Sakura had run off to. He was prompted to run after her, getting a feeling that something was wrong, but he wanted answers as well as Setsuko for Hanzi's odd behavior. "What's going on Hanzi!?" He pushed Setsuko to the side and walked directly into the boy's face. "I seen your eyes when we were in the hospital room what was that!? And why'd you run out so quickly afterwards!?"The boy was irritated and didn't even understand why that was.

Hanzi took a few steps back until his back was up against the wall. His eyes were full of worry while he contemplated over whether or not he wanted to tell his two team members about their sensei's condition. He wasn't worried at all about telling Setsuko, knowing that the news wouldn't affect her as much, but Eriya, knowing now that their sensei is his sister, his reaction was most likely going to be over the top. His eyes switched to stare down at the floor as he continued to think. He knew that the condition was curable but it all depended on how far on it was. Their sensei was in the hospital for four days now and the poison has been unnoticed for that long who knows what damage it's done to her already.

"Hanzi!" Setsuko and Eriya called in unison, puling the boy from his thoughts.

"Oh…" He said sadly while twiddling his thumbs back and forth. He knew they weren't going to be moving from this spot untl he gave them an answer. He tried to think up a quick lie but nothing was coming to mind. Even if he was to come up with one it probably come out wrong. He wasn't one to lie anyway he was truthful about everything. "Alright.." He sighed heavily. "the reason I ran out so quickly is because I seen the flow of chakra within sensei's body…"

"That's impossible..no one can do that!" Eriya retorted.

"No, no it's not Eriya." Setsuko said. "Only those with that special ability can do it. Remember Hanzi's eyes when we were in the room. His dōjutsu was active, the Byakugan."

Hanzi nodded. "The Byakugan is a dōjutsu available only to those in the Hyūga clan. I inherited my eyes from my mother which is how I got them. With it, it gives the me the ability to see the flow of chakra as well as the chakra points in another's body. There are many other abilities that come with having this dōjutsu but that is one. When I seen sensei's chakra flow, it wasn't the normal color blue, it was emerald green which symbolizes poison.."

"Poison..?" Eriya mumbled. He shook his head. "No it's not! There's nothing wrong with green chakra, it's normal.." Eriya could hear his voice start to tremble his face was getting hot his body was tensing up from anger and frustration. He pressed his hands against the side of his head and took deep breaths to calm himself down. "So what if it's poison..she's going to be fine, right?"

Hanzi gulped. It tore him to pieces to see his friend this way. Telling him that he was unsure of what was going to happen to their sensei, would only wreck the boy even further. "Yea." He said firmly though he was feeling terrible now for lying. "She's going to be fine Eriya. Sakura and the other medical ninja of this hospital are going to make sure Indo-sensei walks out of her in top health." He smiled and raised one of his thumbs up. "Believe it!" He was suddenly starting to feel better about the lie. It wasn't a bad lie. There was nothing wrong with trying to reassure him that his sister was going to be alright.

"That's right." Setsuko spoke up. "My mom is the best at what she does, she'll make sure sensei walks out of here in top health. So stop being so emotional is crippling to yourself."

Eriya's eyes softened. The Uchiha girl did have a point. He'd been letting his emotions get to him a little too much lately. But it was just that he worried a lot about his sibling. He and her were the only ones left out of their clan and if one loose the other then what? They both had to look out for each other, protect one another so that they wouldn't just known as just another slain clan. He had to get stronger; he needed to in order to be of equal strength with his sister. and destroy…._**him. **_The boy nodded. "Fine starting today I will not allow my emotions cripple me no longer. I'll go about handling things in a different way from now on."He said with a small smile that Setsuko and Hanzi both returned.

**:::**

"I'm glad that I didn't have to result in using a jutsu that would involve tapping into your mind. I was really contemplating over if for the simple fact that it's very dangerous and could cause memory loss to the victim. But I'm glad you're awake and well now so I don't have to use the jutsu." Naruto explained to a now healthy Indo.

Indo nodded slowly while flipping through her bingo book of missing ninja. It had been several days that she was in the hospital. She was glad that she was finally out of there. Lying around in bed all day was really starting to bother her. She wondered how her Genin's training was going with Kakashi. She'd heard that Kakashi was a tough instructor which is why she chose him to substitute in her absence. "Thank-you, but I thank your son as well. Had he not used his dōjutsu a few days ago, I'd probably still be in the hospital." Her searching through the small black book came to a stop when she remembered that these were only the dangerous and missing ninja of the Land of Fire. She cursed lowly. This was a major setback now how would she or the other ANBU find _**him.**_

Naruto smiled merrily and turned to the window for a few seconds. "Yes I heard about that. I'm glad that Hanzi put his abilities to good use." He said then turned back to the girl in front of him. His expression was now a serious one. The blonde pulled his chair closer to his desk and folded his hands against it. "But on a more important note, I need to know who that ninja was that attacked you the other night. It's been on my mind ever since and knowing that there is a potential there wondering anywhere close to Kanoha fills me with great worry." He explained.

At first the girl didn't wish to release any information about the missing ninja because she wanted to find and handle him herself. He was her problem not anyone else's. And she wanted no one else to kill him but either her or Eriya. But knowing that he showed up in Konoha could be a big threat for everyone in the village. And holding important information like this from the Kage was a bad idea. Indo held up her small black book before lying it down on upon the Kage's desk. "Well for starter's he's not listed in this book because he's not a missing ninja of the fire country, He's a ninja from the country in which I come from, the Land of Deception and a ninja of Iryujongakure. That ninja is.." She clenched her fist in a tight fist against the desk unintentionally exposing her anger and hate for the male to the Hokage. "He's my brother…"

"Your…" Naruto pulled open a drawer on the side of his desk and picked up a large black book and placed it down on the desk in front of him. So this was like another Sasuke and Itachi situation. He remembered the struggle that everyone went through because of that issue and didn't wish to see something like that unfold again. "This is the Bingo Book+" He said and pushed the book towards the girl. "This book holds missing and dangerous ninja in every ninja country."

Indo nodded and turned through the pages for a few minutes until she came across the picture and information of _**him.**_ "Here he is…" She pushed the book towards the Hokage so he could get a look

Naruto read over the male's history and information before closing the book and placing it back within the drawer. Just as Itachi did to his clan, this male did the exact same, only he kept two alive except for one. What could his purpose for that be? Would he do as Itachi did and reveal some appalling information to the two when he's just seconds away from his death bed? Or is there something more sinister behind his method for sparing the lives of two? "Did you two exchange words at any point during your encounter?"

Indo shook her head "I do remember that we talked, but as far as what we discussed, I don't remember."

"Damn.." This was bad. Without that all he had was a missing ninja that slaughtered his entire clan. That was not good enough. "Well I'm going to gather up all the other ANBU and have them search the entire country and see if they find him. If they come across him, you'll be the first I inform." He said. "But I need you to try and remember what it was the two of you discussed that night. It's extremely important that you do. Understand?"

Indo nodded and after being dismissed by the Hokage, she left into the village and headed for the third training ground to see what her Genin and Kakashi were up to. It was the middle of the day and the sun's stifling rays were shining brightly on the town. The people walked through the town rather sluggishly today, fanning themselves as well as carrying bottles of water that they poured over their faces and neck to cool down. Indo seemed to only ignore the heat and walked through the village as if the heat didn't faze her. She'd been on so many missions in the hot sun that days like this didn't bother her in the least. The girl reached into the pouch strapped to the back of her and pulled out a novel that she had started reading before being emitted to the hospital. She tried to concentrate on reading but her mind focused on everything but the book. She sighed and closed her eyes as the events of what occurred a few nights ago played back in her mind. It angered her that she allowed him to beat her that way. It just shows that all the training she'd done up to this point was useless. She had train harder. Maybe she needed to take advantage of that other ability she had. This wasn't the time for her to be locking away any potential strength she had. _**He**_ made his first appearance after five years and she doubted that it would be _**his**_ last..

Upon seeing the Training ground coming into view, Indo placed her book back into the pouch around her waist and stopped a good distance away from the location and watched the Genin's training with Kakashi. She had to admit that she was very impressed with their improvement over just a course of six days. Some of her doubts about them not being able to handle their assigned mission started to fade but not completely. They were still Genin meaning there was still a lot that she had to teach them. The session finally came to an end and he said what he had to say to the three before turning them back over to their original instructor who they were very much glad to see. Indo turned to Kakashi before he walked off and thanked him for taking over in her absence. Kakashi responded by saying "anytime." Before darting off towards the village.

The three Genin huddled around their sensei and hugged her glad for her return. All she could do was smile. "Well I hope you guys are ready."

All three Genin nodded in unison. Tomorrow was the day of their mission to Sunagakure. "We're more than ready!" Hanzi said speaking for all three of them. "We'll do our very best on this mission Indo-Sensei, you'll see."

"Glad to hear that, now give me a brief demonstration of what you've all learned." She said then sat back as the Genin showed her the many abilities and techniques taught to them by Kakashi. She was very impressed. "Very nice." She commented, leaving smiles on all of the Genin's faces. "Now, I have one more challenge for the three of you before we head out tomorrow." She seen that the three worked fine as individuals but how well did they co-operate as a team? Did those skills improves as well since their very first mission? There was only one way to find out. She pulled two bells from her pouch at the side of her leg. She remembered that Naruto gave her these the day she was assigned to instruct the three. He explained to her that Kakashi used the bell method to test out his team's ability to work together. But he told them not to tell the Genin that until the end of the challenge. "The first two to take these bells from me, will be accompanying me on the mission to Sunagakue tomorrow. The one left without a bell at the end of the challenge will be left here and will remain a Genin for the rest of their shinobi days." She explained. Indo slipped the bells through her belt loop and let it hang at her side. "You have three hours you can use whatever ability or technique you'd like as long as you get the bells from me." The girl pulled her book out from her pouch and began reading.

The Genin stood there in shock. She just said she was impressed with their abilities and now she was throwing another challenge at them that involved one of them not being able to participate in the mission tomorrow as well as not being able to excel in the shinobi ranking system if failed. "Sensei that's not fair! We all worked very hard for this you can't just illuminate one of us from the mission if one of us doesn't get a bell. That's unfair!" Hanzi complained. Indo looked from the pages of her book for a few seconds to glance at the boy then went back to reading. "You're wasting time standing around and complaining about how unfair the rules are. If the mission tomorrow means so much to you get the bells from me before your teammates do." She said dryly as she continued flipping through the pages of her book.

Hanzi's eyes danced to the bells at the girl's side. They were in perfect reaching distance so he did just that but his action was unsuccessful when the girl quickly grabbed his arm and swung him towards the water.

_SPLASH! _

Setsuko and Eriya both watched for they had the same idea in mind but seeing Hanzi do it and was very unsuccessful, they now realized that this was going to be a more complicated challenge then they thought. Knowing that one them were on the line of not participating in the mission tomorrow as well as being a Genin forever, made them want to take the seriously. They had to be strategic..


End file.
